SEMI-CENTENNIAL 
ANNIVERSARY  BOOK 


The  University  of  Nebraska 


1869-1919 


BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 

LINCOLN 

1919 


EXCHANGE 


' '  CH/NG'ftKCG'R  4k'MUEL  AVER Y 


Absent  from  the  University,  1918.     Major  in  Chemical  Warfare 
Service,  U.  S.  A. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL 
ANNIVERSARY  BOOK 


The  University  of  Nebraska 


1869-1919 


BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 

LINCOLN 

1919 


:' 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

Nineteen  hundred  and  nineteen  is  the  semi-centennial 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  University  of  Nebraska. 
It  is  therefore  appropriate  that  some  record  be  published, 
sketching  the  history  of  the  institution  in  the  first  fifty 
years  of  its  existence.  The  articles  contained  in  this  anni- 
versary book  are  the  product  of  no  long  period  of  prepara- 
tion. Most  of  them  were  written  within  a  few  weeks  after 
the  book  was  planned.  Doubtless  they  omit  much  that 
might  well  have  been  included,  and  here  and  there  they  may 
exhibit  inaccuracies;  and  there  is  probably  overlapping  of 
material,  as  always  when  a  work  is  the  product  of  collabora- 
tion. It  was  not  possible  in  the  time  available  to  secure  all 
the  contributions  wished  or  to  secure  contributions  from 
all  the  persons  approached;  and  it  is  to  make  good  the 
defect  thereby  occasioned  that  certain  articles  are  supplied 
by  the  editor.  Nevertheless,  for  the  most  part,  the  sketches 
come  from  the  pens  of  those  best  fitted  to  write  them;  and 
it  is  hoped  that  the  book  in  some  fair  measure  reflects  the 
growth  of  the  University  since  its  foundation  half  a  cen- 
tury ago. 


608&&S 


CONTENTS 

Charter-Day  Poem,  (Quarter- Centennial  Anniversary) 
HERBERT  BATES 

Historical  Sketches  of  the  University  of  Nebraska : 

The  Background  LoulgE  pQUND 

The  Founding  of  the  University     J 

Admission  and  Curricula L.  A.  SHERMAN 

Early  Faculty  and  Equipment GEORGE  E.  HOWARD 

Development  of  Schools  and  Colleges — 

HOWARD  W.  CALDWELL 

Buildings  and  Grounds EDNA  D.  BULLOCK 

Undergraduate  Life WILL  OWEN  JONES 

The  Library NELLIE  J.  COMPTON 

The  Military  Department GUERNSEY  JONES 

Organizations  LOUISE  POUND 

The  Alumni , ANNIS  S.  CHAIKIN 

The  University  and  the  Community 

HATTIE  P.  WILLIAMS 

The  Regents ALBERT  WATKINS 

Publications OLIVIA  POUND 

Athletics GUY  E.  REED 

The  University  and  the  War ANNIS  S.  CHAIKIN 

The  University  Today SHERLOCK  B.  GASS 

The  Future H.  B.  ALEXANDER 

Founders'  Hymn .L.  A.  SHERMAN 

Personal  Sketches: 

Chancellor  A.  R.  Benton HENRY  H.  WILSON 

Chancellor  E.  B.  Fairfield CLEMENT  CHASE 

Chancellor  J.  Irving  Manatt GROVE  E.  BARBER 

Chancellor  James  Hulme  Canfield W.  F.  DANN 

Chancellor  E.  Benjamin  Andrews.— EDGAR  L.  HINMAN 

Dean  A.  H.  Edgren LAURENCE  FOSSLER 

Dean  C.  E.  Bessey RAYMOND  J.  POOL 

Poem:  Academe...  ...H.  B.  A. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Chancellor  Samuel  Avery Frontispiece 

Chancellor  J.  Irving  Manatt,  facing  page 123 

Chancellor  J.  H.  Canfield 127 

Chancellor  E.  B.  Andrews 131 

Dean  A.  H.  Edgren 135 

Dean  Charles  E.  Bessey 139 


CHARTER-DAY  POEM 


QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  ANNIVERSARY 

UNIVERSITY  OP  NEBRASKA 

The  hunter  shook  from  his  brown  pipe  the  spark 

That  flashed  into  the  dark 

Of  the  knotted  grass-roots,  and  grew  strong  and  sprang 

Into  crackling  flame,  and  it  heard  the  wind  that  sang 

Its  keen  dry  wail  o'er  the  prairies,  and  strengthened  and 

grew 
Till  it  flared  to  a  league-long  flame,  and  the  scared  birds 

flew, 

Smoke-blinded  before  it,  and  the  blundering  buffalo  fled, 
And  the  coyote  quacked  in  his  covert,  and  the  Indian  said : 
"Tonight  the  God  of  the  fire  has  raised  his  head  I" 

From  the  fire  of  ancient  worlds   a   little   spark,   chance- 
shaken, 

Fell  on  our  alien  plains,  and  spread  alone, 
And  strengthened  till  it  shone 
World-wide;  and  nations  said:  When  did  it  waken? 
We  saw  not  its  birth,  but  today  we  see  afar, 
A  flame  that  darkens  the  low  sunset  star, 
And  drives  the  huddled  night 
Cowering  before  the  lances  of  its  light. 

For  a  voice  cried  in  the  ear 

Of  the  West:  Awake,  for  the  future  calls  thee!  Hear, 

Child  of  the  plain,  today  your  limbs  are  strong, 

Your  eyes  are  radiant!  Wake,  for  you  sleep  too  long! 

Wake,  for  the  east  hills  quicken  into  day, 

And  the  gray  wind  of  morning  calls  to  song! 

Wake,  for  within  your  heart  there  glows 

The  prompting  of  the  new-born  soul, 
Strenuous  and  tireless,  quickening  as  it  knows, 

Far  off,  the  destined  goal ! 

7 


8  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

The  golden  sunflowers,  myriad-blossoming,  blaze, 

From  hill  to  golden  hill; 
And  melt  at  last  into  the  golden  haze 

Of  the  great  distance.    All  the  land  is  still 
With  solitude,  and  only  the  quick  bird 
Chirps  in  the  grass ;  no  other  sound  is  heard 
To  praise  God's  golden  gift. 
The  white  clouds  sail  and  sift 
The  mottled  moonlight  over  the  wide  land, 
The  slow  streams  flow;  the  narrow  forests  stand 
Huddled  and  timorous  for  loneliness. 
Has  God  not  given  gifts  enough  to  bless 
Our  singers  from  their  silence?    Has  our  ear 
Grown  all  too  dull  to  hear 
The  still,  sweet  voice  of  Nature's  tenderness? 
Has  she  no  whisper  to  awake 
The  soul  that  dreams,  the  song  that  sleeps, 
Until  its  thrilling  chords  shall  shake 

To  the  gray  hearts  of  older  lands, 
To  where  the  ocean's  iron  deeps 

Complain  upon  their  endless  sands? 

To  love,  to  know,  to  sing, — these  three 
Are  God's  most  precious  gifts  to  men, 

To  know  what  has  been,  and  to  see 

The  ripening  of  what  shall  be, 
Far  off  beyond  the  present's  ken. 

To  read  life's  book,  and  understand ; 
To  tell  the  treasury  of  stars, 
And  through  Death's  unrelenting  bars 

To  spy  the  bounds  of  spirit-land. 

To  love,  to  know  life  fair,  to  see 
Earth  beautiful,  till  each  gray  tree 
Shall  tell  its  message,  each  star  shine 
Some  consolation,  and  the  line 
Of  the  last  hills  shall  speak  of  peace ; 
Till  war  and  hate  and  envy  cease, 
And  over  all  the  smiling  land  shall  chime 
The  petalled  joy-bells  of  God's  blossoming  time. 


CHARTER-DA  Y  POEM  9 

To  sing,  to  tell  it  all, 
As  the  glad  birds  that  call 
The  green  spring  up  the  land,  till  each 
With  happier  heart  shall  learn  and  teach 
Such  new  accord  of  life  as  sings  attune 
Through  the  dense  leaves  of  June. 

To  know,  to  love,  to  sing — and  then, 
To  spread  the  gathered  wealth  abroad 
To  every  dwelling-place  of  men, 
As,  with  the  ancient  dragon-hoard, 
Siegfried,  the  slayer,  southward  rode 
With  the  red  serpent  gold  that  glowed, 
All  glorious,  at  his  saddle-bow. 

Ride  on,  0  conqueror,  with  thy  spoil 

Of  error  and  thy  gifts  of  might! 
Ride  on,  that  every  heart  may  know 

The  sudden  sun  of  wisdom's  light, 
That  through  the  loneliest  prairie  ways, 

Where  the  least  sod-built  shanty  stands, 

Or  where  the  city's  million  hands 
Toil  grimy  through  the  grudging  days, 
The  blessing  of  thy  gifts  may  go, 
That  our  new  land  may  rise  and  know, 
As  the  old  peoples  of  the  past, 
The  joys  that  do  not  pale,  the  hopes  that  last 
Against  the  hour  of  death,  and  make  of  life 
More  than  a  barren  strife, 
And  of  life's  end  no  mere  f orgetf ulness. 
So  shall  thy  mission  be  to  bless, 
To  raise,  to  brighten,  and  to  lead  us  on 
Till  the  last  fight  is  won, 
The  utmost  end  accomplished,  and  we  see 
Far  up  above  us,  white  and  marvellous, 
The  peaks  long-sought,  and  hear  acclaiming  us 
The  voices  of  old  victors  gloriously 
Triumphing  up  the  slopes  of  victory. 

HERBERT  BATES. 
February  15, 1894. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCHES  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  BACKGROUND 

From  the  first,  the  pioneer  plainsmen  of  Nebraska  were 
not  content  to  be  absorbed  only  in  the  activities  of  the  pres- 
ent. They  were  not  only  adventurers  and  workers;  they 
were  dreamers.  They  fixed  their  eyes  upon  the  future; 
and  they  planned  with  a  constructive  capacity  which  in 
these  days — when  Indian  questions  are  no  more,  when  ter- 
ritorial and  statehood  aspirations  have  so  long  been 
realized,  when  innumerable  cities  have  replaced  the  cabins 
and  dugouts  of  earlier  generations — we  should  hold  in 
grateful  memory.  For  the  most  part,  the  minds  and 
energies  of  the  contemporary  generation  are  occupied  with 
the  manifold  interests  of  the  present.  It  is  rare  that  we 
pause  to  give  thought  to  the  pioneers  who  laid  so  strongly 
and  so  surely  the  foundations  of  our  life  today,  and  made 
possible  its  successes.  Only  an  occasional  chronicler  of 
early  institutions  looks  back  over  their  struggles,  and 
realizes,  with  reverent  attention,  the  ideals  and  efforts  of 
generations  long  in  their  graves. 

When  we  think  at  all  of  those  who  obeyed  the  dictum 
"Go  West"  and  made  their  pioneer  homes  in  the  region 
which  was  to  be  the  territory  and  afterwards  the  state  of 
Nebraska,  we  picture  them  as  men  passing  their  lives  in 
isolated  districts,  far  from  the  centers  of  population,  and 
preoccupied  with  the  tireless  work  attendant  upon  the 
breaking  in  of  a  new  country.  We  picture  them  as  engaged 
in  useful  labors  but  as  leading  humble  and  routine  lives,  en- 
grossed in  pioneer  tasks.  We  are  likely  to  forget  that  they 
were  a  special  breed  of  men,  especially  rich  in  ambitions  and 
ideals, — richer  in  these,  it  may  well  be,  than  many  of  us  who 
are  their  descendants.  Like  the  colonists  of  New  England, 
they  had  much  to  leave  behind  when  they  made  their  way 
to  new  regions  and  established  new  homes;  but  they  were 

11 


12  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

of  the  fiber  to  hold  to  their  purpose.  They  surrendered 
many  things  when  they  came  to  these  plains.  Ties  of  kin- 
ship, of  friendship,  and  endearing  associations  bound  them 
to  older  localities.  It  is  only  men  of  strong  individuality 
who  break  such  bonds,  and  face  undaunted  the  self-denials 
and  privations  of  frontier  life.  New  regions  are  not  sought 
by  the  weak  or  the  timid  or  the  dependent,  but  by  those  of 
stern  make — men  of  unusual  self-reliance,  endowed  with 
enthusiasm  and  with  zealous  ambition. 

For  those  who  read  the  stirring  narrative  of  life  in  Ne- 
braska in  the  early  days,  an  outstanding  feature  is  the  wish, 
so  soon  defining  itself,  to  care  for  the  mental  as  well  as  the 
material  welfare  of  its  citizens— the  aspiration  to  provide 
as  early  as  possible  for  their  higher  education.  This  is 
apparent  in  the  expression  of  pioneer  ideals  in  speeches 
and  in  newspapers  and  in  a  review  of  the  bills  formulated 
by  early  legislatures.  The  region  had  hardly  been  pene- 
trated and  institutions  of  civilization  had  hardly  been  estab- 
lished when  the  wish  to  build  for  the  future  found  definite 
voice,  and  the  foundations  of  a  system  of  higher  educa- 
tion were  laid  on  broad  and  liberal  lines. 

To  particularize,  the  decade  which  saw  the  inception  and 
establishment  of  the  State  University  was  the  decade  of 
the  1860's,  when  Nebraska  had  but  just  reached  statehood, 
for  Nebraska  became  a  state  only  in  1867.  In  the  preceding 
decade  the  route  of  the  Overland  Mail  service  had  passed 
through  the  Nebraska  prairies,  and  that  interesting  and  pic- 
turesque mode  of  transportation,  the  Pony  Express,  from 
St.  Joseph  to  Sacramento,  routed  through  Kearney,  was 
given  up  only  in  1861.  There  was  much  freighting  by 
oxen  in  the  1860's,  and  in  the  next  decades,  and  many  im- 
migrants were  still  coming  in  "prairie  schooners,"  or  pass- 
ing through  to  regions  farther  west.  The  only  parts  of 
the  state  at  all  well  settled  were  the  southeastern  and  the 
eastern,  and  some  of  the  chief  centers  of  population  were 
Omaha,  Nebraska  City,  Plattsmouth,  Falls  City,  and 
Brownville.  The  total  population  of  the  state  could  hardly 
have  outnumbered  100,000.  There  were  still  many  thou- 
sands of  Indians  on  Nebraska  reservations,  Sioux,  Winne- 


THE  BACKGROUND  13 

bago,  Omaha,  Otoe,  Missouri,  and  Sacs  and  Foxes.  The 
government  had  assumed  control  of  them  sometime  before, 
for  the  protection  of  the  immigrants.  As  for  national 
affairs,  at  the  close  of  the  decade  Andrew  Johnson  was  in 
the  president's  chair,  to  be  succeeded  by  General  Grant. 

The  University  was  established  in  the  fifteenth  year 
after  the  admission  of  Nebraska  to  territorial  government, 
in  the  second  year  after  its  admission  to  statehood,  four 
years  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln,  and  seven  years  before  the  centen- 
nial of  the  foundation  of  the  republic  of  the  United  States. 
The  city  of  Lincoln,  at  which  the  University  was  located, 
had  been  fixed  upon  as  the  state  capital  hardly  two 
years  before.  It  had  few  more  than  a  thousand  inhabitants, 
no  water  except  well  water,  few  or  no  sidewalks;  a  gas 
plant  was  not  yet  begun,  and  the  campus  where  the  univer- 
sity building  was  to  be  built  was  raw  prairie,  far  out  of 
town.  Legislatures  had  hardly  begun  to  meet  at  Lincoln, 
as  state  legislatures,  when  the  first  bills  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  normal  school  and  for  a  university  were  passed. 
Already  in  the  territorial  period  many  bills  of  this  nature 
had  been  introduced  but  owing  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War  they  had  not  borne  fruit  in  tangible  results. 

It  is  good  to  see  in  retrospect  early  conditions,  for  the 
state  and  for  the  city  of  Lincoln,  if  we  are  to  realize  the 
expansions  of  fifty  years.  In  the  first  moment  of  its  self- 
consciousness,  the  state  planned  for  its  sons  and  daughters 
an  institution  which,  within  a  half-century,  more  than 
realizes  the  dreams  of  the  pioneers  who  founded  it,  and  is 
a  monument  to  their  courage  and  prevision. 

LOUISE  POUND. 


14  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

The  University  of  Nebraska  was  chartered  by  act  of 
the  Nebraska  legislature  in  1869.  The  bill  providing  for 
its  charter,  known  as  S.  F.  No.  86,  "an  act  to  establish 
the  University  of  Nebraska,"  was  introduced  into  the  sen- 
ate on  February  11,  by  E.  E.  Cunningham  of  Richardson 
County.  It  was  referred  back,  on  the  day  of  its  introduc- 
tion, to  the  committee  on  education,  the  chairman  of  which 
was  Charles  H.  Gere,  to  be  for  many  years  the  editor  of  the 
Nebraska  State  Jouriwl,  and  a  future  regent  of  the  Univer- 
sity. The  bill  was  returned  to  the  senate  on  February  12 
with  amendments  and  on  the  next  day  it  was  passed  and 
sent  to  the  house.  It  was  read  in  the  house  a  first  and 
second  time  under  suspension  of  rules,  and  referred  to  the 
committee  on  schools.  The  bill  was  read  for  the  third  time 
two  days  later,  February  15,  passed,  and  signed  by  Gov- 
ernor David  Butler.  On  the  last  day  of  the  legislative  ses- 
sion of  1869,  two  years  and  six  days  from  the  date  of  the 
admission  of  Nebraska  to  statehood,  the  bill  chartering  the 
University  became  a  law. 

As  recorded  in  The  Statutes  of  Nebraska  for  1869,  the 
law  enacted 

That  there  shall  be  established  in  this  state  an  institution 
under  the  name  and  style  of  "The  University  of  Nebraska."  The 
object  of  such  institution  shall  be  to  afford  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  state  the  means  of  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
various  branches  of  literature,  science,  and  the  arts. 

The  charter  of  1869  provided  for  six  departments  or  col- 
leges: A  college  of  ancient  and  modern  literature,  mathe- 
matics, and  the  natural  sciences,  i.  e.,  a  college  of  literature, 
the  sciences,  the  arts;  of  agriculture;  of  law;  of  medicine; 
of  the  practical  sciences,  surveying  and  mechanics ;  and  of 
the  fine  arts.  The  college  of  fine  arts  was  to  be  established 
when  the  annual  income  of  the  University  reached  $100,000. 
Six  years  later,  by  an  amendment  passed  in  1875,  the  col- 
lege of  agriculture  was  united  with  the  practical  sciences, 
reducing  the  six  colleges  to  five. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY          15 

The  government  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  was 
placed  by  the  original  charter  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of 
twelve  regents,  nine  of  them  to  be  chosen  by  the  Legisla- 
ture in  joint  session,  three  from  each  judicial  district.  The 
nine  regents  were  divided  into  three  classes  by  lot,  one 
person  from  each  district  to  belong  in  each  class.  The  term 
of  office  for  the  first  class  was  two  years,  for  the  second, 
four  years,  for  the  third  six  years.  The  remaining  three 
regents,  the  chancellor,  the  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction, and  the  governor,  were  members  ex  officio.  The 
first  members  of  the  first  board  were  appointed  by  the 
governor. 

The  present  organization  of  the  University  was  adopted 
in  1877,  after  the  formation  of  a  new  state  constitution  in 
1875.  It  placed  the  University  under  the  control  of  six 
regents,  to  be  elected,  and  made  provision  for  its  organiza- 
tion and  administration.  Section  10  of  article  8,  entitled 
"Education,"  in  the  constitution  of  1875  reads  as  follows, 
remodeling  in  several  sections  the  act  of  1869. 

The  general  government  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  shall, 
under  direction  of  the  legislature,  be  vested  in  a  board  of  six 
regents,  to  be  styled  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University  of 
Nebraska,  who  shall  be  elected  by  the  electors  of  the  state  at 
large,  and  their  terms  of  office,  except  those  chosen  at  the  first 
election  as  hereinafter  provided,  shall  be  six  years.  Their  duties 
and  powers  shall  be  prescribed  by  law,  and  they  shall  receive  no 
compensation,  but  may  be  reimbursed  their  actual  expenses  in- 
curred in  discharge  of  their  duties. 

The  funds  of  the  University  are  derived  from  various 
sources.  An  act  of  the  United  States  Congress  of  July  22, 
1862,  provided  an  endowment  of  land  for  the  several  states 
for  the  maintenance  in  each  state  of  at  least  one  college 
where  branches  relating  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts  should  be  the  main  subjects  of  instruction.  By  the 
terms  of  this  grant,  instruction  in  military  science  must  be 
given  in  these  colleges.  Nebraska's  share  in  this  land  endow- 
ment amounted  to  90,000  acres.  These  were  selected  in  An- 
telope, Cedar,  Cuming,  Dakota,  Dixon,  L'Eau  Qui  Court 
(afterwards  Knox),  Pierce,  and  Wayne  counties.  The  en- 
abling act  of  April  19,  1864,  providing  for  the  admission  of 


16  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

the  state  into  the  union,  set  apart  and  reserved  for  the  use 
and  support  of  a  state  university  seventy-two  sections  of 
land,  thus  making  a  total  of  136,080  acres  of  endowment 
lands.  The  proceeds  of  land  sales,  under  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress just  named,  constitute  the  permanent  endowment 
fund  of  the  University.  Legal  provision  was  made  for  the 
leasing  of  these  lands,  along  with  the  common  school  lands, 
by  the  state  board  of  public  lands  and  buildings.  Under 
an  act  of  the  legislature  of  1897,  no  further  sales  of  uni- 
versity lands  can  be  made.  The  principal  arising  from 
former  sales  is  paid  into  the  permanent  endowment  fund,  to 
be  invested  in  securities,  only  the  interest  of  which  can  be 
used  for  expenses.  Unfortunately,  before  the  legislature 
took  action,  in  1897,  nearly  all  the  endowment  lands  had 
been  sold,  or  were  under  contract  of  sale. 

Income  is  also  derived  by  the  University  from  the 
money-grant  act  of  Congress,  known  as  the  Morrill-Nelson 
act  of  August,  1890,  in  aid  of  the  original  land  grant  fund 
and  to  be  used  in  the  same  way,  and  from  the  Hatch-Adams 
act  of  1887,  for  the  establishment  of  experiment  stations. 
The  other  revenues  of  the  University  are  derived  from 
appropriations  made  by  the  legislature  and  from  taxation. 
By  an  amendment,  passed  in  1899,  of  the  original  act  estab- 
lishing the  University,  a  tax  of  one  mill  per  dollar  on  the 
grand  assessment  roll  of  the  state  is  now  provided,  to  be 
levied  annually  for  the  support  of  the  University. 

The  act  establishing  the  University  provided  for  a  model 
farm.  The  governor  was  instructed  to  set  apart  two  sec- 
tions of  any  agricultural  college  land  or  saline  land  belong- 
ing to  the  state,  and  to  notify  the  state  land  commissioner 
of  such  reservation  for  laying  out  a  model  farm.  Land 
so  set  apart  was  not  to  be  used  for  any  other  purpose.  In 
his  message  of  1871,  Governor  Butler  recommended  that 
as  there  were  no  such  lands  in  an  eligible  situation,  a  sec- 
tion of  state  lands  should  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  applied 
to  the  purchase  of  a  farm  of  not  more  than  320  acres  as 
near  the  University  campus  as  possible.  Selection  was 
made,  and  the  land  so  selected  was  purchased,  and  con- 
verted into  the  present  University  experiment  station  farm. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  17 

The  record  narrates  that  on  June  25,  1874,  Moses  M.  Culver 
and  his  wife  in  consideration  of  $6,050  in  cash  and  $11,550 
payable  in  four  years,  deeded  to  the  regents  the  farm  of  320 
acres  which  is  known  as  the  University  farm,  distant  about 
two  and  one-half  miles  from  the  main  campus. 

When  provision  was  made  for  the  erection  of  Univer- 
sity Hall,  the  first  university  building,  through  an  act  "pro- 
viding for  the  sale  of  unused  lots  and  blocks  on  the  town 
site  of  Lincoln  and  for  the  erection  of  a  State  University 
and  Agricultural  College,"  it  was  stipulated  that  the  build- 
ing was  not  to  exceed  in  cost  $100,000.  An  account  by  Pro- 
fessor H.  W.  Caldwell,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  State  His- 
torical Society  in  1889,  of  the  building  of  University  Hall 
and  of  its  early  history  is  so  interesting  as  to  deserve  quota- 
tion at  length: 

On  June  5,  1869,  the  sale  of  lots  began  and  the  first  day  105 
lots  were  sold  for  about  $30,000.  The  next  day  The  Commonwealth 
[the  predecessor  of  The  State  Journal]  remarked  that  'now  the 
completion  of  the  State  University  and  Agricultural  College  is 
assured.'  Eleven  days  later  the  paper  announced  the  arrival  of 
Mr.  R.  D.  Silver,  who  would  immediately  put  in  a  large  plant  for 
manufacturing  brick  for  the  university — the  capacity  of  the  plant 
to  be  12,000  brick  a  day.  The  plans  of  Mr.  J.  M.  McBird,  of 
Logansport,  Indiana,  were  accepted  on  June  2,  and  on  August  14, 
The  Cmnmomvealth  contained  an  editorial  description  of  the  plans 
for  the  new  building,  classing  the  style  of  architecture  as  Franco- 
Italian.  The  same  issue  of  the  paper  announced  that  the  excava- 
tion for  the  basement  of  the  university  was  completed. 

On  August  18,  1869,  the  contract  for  the  erection  of  the  build- 
ing was  let  to  Silver  and  Son  for  $128,480;  soon  afterward  the 
troubles  which  followed  the  university  for  so  many  years  began. 
Even  the  Brownville  Advertiser,  a  good  friend  of  the  university, 
thought  the  policy  of  letting  a  contract  for  $28,480  more  than  the 
appropriation  unwise.  The  State  Journal  came  to  the  defense  of 
the  regents,  arguing  that  it  was  better  policy  to  begin  the  erection 
of  a  building  of  sufficient  size  and  well  suited  to  its  uses,  even  if 
it  were  necessary  to  have  an  additional  appropriation,  than  to  spend 
$100,000  upon  a  building  that  would  soon  have  to  be  torn  down 
because  unsuited  to  the  needs  of  the  future.  The  cornerstone  was 
laid  on  September  23,  1869;  two  days  after  a  glowing  account  ap- 
peared in  the  columns  of  The  State  Journal.  The  exercises  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  Masons  with  Major  D.  H.  Wheeler  as  master 
of  ceremonies.  A  brass  band  from  Omaha,  imported  for  the  occa- 


18  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

sion,  headed  the  procession.     In  the  evening  a  grand  banquet  was 
given.     Governor  Butler  made  a  few  remarks  and  Mr.  Wheeler  a 
short  speech.     Then  Attorney  General  Seth  Robinson  gave  an  ad- 
dress on  'Popular  Education,'  but  as  most  of  it  concerned  Greece 
and  Rome,  and  very  little  of  it  related  to  Nebraska,  any  farther 
reference  to  it  may  be  omitted  here.     The  banquet — thanks  to  the 
good  people  of  Lincoln — was  enjoyed  by  fully  a  thousand  people, 
dancing  being  indulged   in  from   10:00   until   4:00   o'clock.      This 
was   the   beginning,   but  the   end   was   not  yet,   as  Lincoln   people 
well  knew.     The  regents  visited  the  building  and  after  inspection, 
approved  the  plans  of  construction  on  January  6,  1871,  but  before 
a  student  had  ever  entered  its  doors,   the  cry  was  raised  that  it 
was  insecure.     On  June  13,  1871,  three  professional  architects  were 
employed  to  examine  the  building  thoroughly.     Their  report  was 
made  June  23   and  pronounced  the  building  safe  for  the  present 
and  probably  for  years  to  come.      The   probability,   they  thought, 
could  be  made  a  certainty  by  a  few  repairs  that  would  not  be  very 
expensive.      These   repairs,  were   made   and   September    6    the   uni- 
versity was  opened  with  an  enrollment  of  about  ninety  students 
the  first  week.     However,  the  rumor  of  the  insecurity  of  the  build- 
ing would  not  down;   so  March  18,  1873,  a  special  meeting  of  the 
regents  was  called  to  consider  further  repairs.     After  a  report  from 
another  set  of  architects,  a  new  foundation  was  ordered  to  be  put 
under  the  chapel.     The  foundation  walls,  as  they  were  torn  out, 
were  to  be  examined  by  an   architect  under  the  direction  of  the 
attorney-general,  J.  R.  Webster,  who  reported  that  the  foundation 
had  not  been  in  accordance  with  the  contract.     The  Chancellor  in 
his  report  of  June  26,  1877,  again  called  the  attention  of  the  board 
to  the  condition  of  the  building.     Four  architects  were  now  em- 
ployed, one  from  Omaha,  one  from  Nebraska  City,  and  two  from 
Lincoln.      On   the   strength   of   their   report,   the   regents   resolved, 
July  6,  1877,  to  tear  down  the  building  and  to  erect  a  new  one  at 
the  cost  of  $60,000,  $40,000  of  this  amount  to  be  raised  in  Lincoln. 
Work  was  to  commence  immediately  at  securing  the  above  amount. 
The  citizens  of  Lincoln,  however,  were  not  satisfied,  so  they  sent 
to  Chicago  and  Dubuque  for  architects  who  examined  the  building 
and  pronounced  it  easily  repaired.     A  committee  of  Lincoln  citizens 
met  the  regents  on  August  15.     A  new  foundation  with  some  other 
repair  was  ordered,   and  the  bill   of   $6,012   was  paid  by  Lincoln. 
Various  attempts  to  secure  an  appropriation  to  reimburse  the  city 
have  been  made,  but  all  have  ended  in  failure.     At  the  same  time 
the  roof  was  repaired  at  an  expense  of  $1,625,  but  the  water  still 
found  its  way  through,  till  finally  in  1883  a  slate  roof  was  put  on 
and  the  'leak'  was  stopped. 

Just  after  the  reconsideration  of  the  resolution  to  tear  down 
the  building,  a  committee  came  from  Nebraska  City  to  present  a 
bid  for  the  re-location  of  the  University  at  that  point.  This  was 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY          19 

the  last  public  scare,  although  several  thousand  dollars  have  since 
been  spent  in  replacing  the  inner  foundation  walls  and  in  making 
other  necessary  repairs.  Undoubtedly  the  faulty  construction  of 
the  building  delayed  the  growth  of  the  University  considerably; 
certainly  it  used  up  much  of  its  funds  that  were  greatly  needed 
elsewhere. 

A  complete  history  of  the  University  on  its  academic 
side,  till  1900,  by  Professor  Caldwell,  is  published  in  the 
Circulars  of  Information  of  the  United  States  Educational 
Bureau  for  1902,  as  part  of  his  article  on  "Higher  Educa- 
tion in  Nebraska." 

The  University  opened  with  the  single  college  of  litera- 
ture, science,  and  the  arts.  It  offered  courses  in  Latin, 
Greek,  and  the  sciences.  The  first  faculty  consisted  of 
Allen  R.  Benton,  A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  chancellor  and  professor  of 
intellectual  and  moral  science;  A.  H.  Manley,  professor  of 
ancient  languages  and  literature;  Henry  E.  Hitchcock,  A. 
M.,  professor  of  mathematics;  0.  C.  Dake,  professor  of 
rhetoric  and  English  literature;  Samuel  Aughey,  A.  M., 
professor  of  chemistry  and  natural  science;  George  E. 
Church,  A.  M.,  principal  of  the  Latin  school ;  S.  R.  Thomp- 
son, professor  in  the  department  of  agriculture.  The  first 
duty  of  the  professor  of  agriculture  is  said  to  have  been  to 
plant  trees  and  to  arrange  walks  on  the  campus.  The  first 
students  to  attend  the  University  were  the  following: 
Freshmen,  Frank  Hurd,  Tecumseh ;  Uriah  M.  Malick,  Cam- 
den;  H.  Kanaga  Metcalf,  Rock  Creek;  W.  H.  Sheldon,  Per- 
cival,  Iowa;  Mary  W.  Sessions,  Lincoln;  sophomores,  Wal- 
lace M.  Stephens,  Nebraska  City ;  William  H.  Snell,  Lincoln ; 
junior,  J.  Stuart  Dales,  East  Rochester,  Ohio.  Mr.  Dales 
and  Mr.  Snell  were  the  first  students  to  receive  degrees, 
granted  them  in  1873.  In  addition  to  the  regular  students 
already  named,  there  were  twelve  irregular  students  and 
110  students  in  the  preparatory  school,  making  a  total  of 
130  students  in  attendance  during  the  first  year.  Fifty 
years  later,  the  University  has  students  not  only  from 
Nebraska  and  from  every  state  in  the  union,  but  from 
Japan,  Korea,  the  Philippines,  and  from  many  countries 
of  the  European  continent. 


20  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

University  Hall,  the  original  home  of  the  University, 
of  late  years  held  together,  to  ensure  its  safety  from  fall- 
ing, by  steel  uprights,  is  still  the  home  of  the  Arts  College, 
the  oldest  of  the  colleges.  Its  recitation  rooms  and  offices, 
which  house  classes  in  history,  language,  literature,  and 
rhetoric,  look  time-stained  and  battered,  in  comparison 
with  the  new  and  attractive  quarters  of  the  natural 
sciences,  the  technical  sciences,  the  social  sciences,  and  the 
vocational  and  agricultural  schools.  But  those  who  teach 
in  the  old  building  are  glad  to  do  so ;  indeed  they  take  pride 
in  doing  so.  They  feel  a  deep  love  for  it,  for  University 
Hall  is  the  historic  building,  among  those  on  the  campus, 
and  the  classes  reciting  in  it  are  those  first  desired  by  the 
founders  of  the  institution. 

The  University  of  Nebraska  reflects,  in  the  stages  of 
its  development,  the  shifting  conceptions  of  the  province  of 
a  state  university  that  characterize  the  decades  since  its 
foundation.  The  primary  purpose  of  the  founders  of  the 
University  was  to  provide  a  liberal  or  cultural  education 
for  the  youth  of  the  state,  in  order  to  make  of  them — as 
it  has  made  of  them — more  rounded  and  valuable  citizens. 
With  the  growth  of  the  institution  in  scholarship,  and  the 
development  of  its  graduate  school,  came  a  consciousness 
of  the  historic  mission  of  a  university,  namely  to  preserve 
and  if  possible  to  add  to  the  learning  of  the  world,  that 
asset  of  civilization.  This  may  be  called  the  function  of 
the  university  proper,  as  distinguished  from  the  secondary 
school  and  from  the  college.  Last  to  be  reflected  in  its  de- 
velopment is  the  present-day  conception  of  a  state  univer- 
sity as  an  institution  of  public  usefulness,  where  training 
may  be  had  in  all  lines,  cultural,  aesthetic,  scientific,  voca- 
tional, commercial,  which  the  people  of  the  state,  who  are 
its  supporters,  may  desire. 

LOUISE  POUND. 


ADMISSION  AND  CURRICULA  21 


ADMISSION  AND  CURRICULA 

The  way  to  begin  is  to  begin/  This  doubtless  means 
that  what  one  does  to  set  about  a  beginning  often  breaks 
inertia  and  becomes  peculiarly  and  vitally  the  beginning 
itself.  It  is  hesitancy  over  the  first  step  that  has  kept  many 
a  chapter  of  potential  history  unwritten. 

When  a  college  is  opened  in  a  community  where  there 
are  no  students  asking  or  waiting  to  be  admitted,  there 
are  evidently  other  forces  than  evolutional  in  control.  The 
great  universities  were  severally  the  result  of  need,  and  not 
an  effort  to  create  it.  In  1871  the  University  of  Nebraska 
was  emphatically  the  seeker  and  not  the  sought.  Some  of 
its  first  alumni  came  to  be  students  through  the  advice, 
and  indeed,  in  a  sense,  the  solicitation,  of  its  head. 

Thus  was  the  higher  education  precipitated  in  Nebraska. 
There  being  no  secondary  education  to  serve  for  prepara- 
tion, the  University  was  forced  to  administer  it  to  itself. 
For  years  in  consequence  its  chief  enrollment  was  in  its 
Latin  School.  Until  the  middle  eighties  the  University  of 
Nebraska  was  spoken  of  in  legislative  debates  as  the  Lin- 
coln High  School.  There  was  little  knowledge  of  it  in  the 
State  at  large  until  Chancellor  Canfield,  in  1891-1895,  car- 
ried the  evangel  of  opportunity  to  every  considerable  town 
and  village.  College  classes  were  now  filled  to  repletion, 
and  preparatory  courses  were  discontinued. 

Amusing  stories  of  the  period  thus  closed  indicate  that 
some  of  the  early  students  were  but  feebly  'fitted/  Pro- 
fessor Woodberry,  acting  as  examiner,  is  said  to  have 
astonished  an  applicant  by  asking  merely,  'Can  you  read/ 
and  by  reporting  to  him,  after  proof  of  that  accomplish- 
ment, 'You  pass/  This  admission  was,  of  course,  to  the 
Latin  School.  There  is  evidence  that  Professor  Woodberry 
found  little  fault  with  the  quality  of  the  students  that 
reached  him  eventually  in  the  college.  Nowhere  was  great- 
er promise  discovered  or  developed  than  under  his  exacting 
standards. 


22  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

Professor  Woodberry's  designated  subjects  were  Rhetor- 
ic and  Anglo-Saxon.  Old  English  was  at  that  time  taught 
as  a  college  subject  as  far  west  as  Grinnell,  then  known  as 
Iowa  College.  In  his  earlier  connection  with  the  University, 
Professor  Woodberry  had  offered  a  course  in  Ancient  Law. 
A  graduate  of  those  days  was  heard  of  trying  to  pass  along 
his  acquaintance  with  Sir  Henry  Maine's  text  on  that  sub- 
ject to  a  group  of  farmers  at  a  country  schoolhouse.  He 
did  not  finish  his  course  of  lectures  or  his  term  of  teach- 
ing. The  same  student  before  graduation  sought  on  a  cer- 
tain occasion  to  explain  a  specific  function  of  sight  as  un- 
doubtedly a  survival  from  the  time  when  there  were  eyes 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  body.  He  was  evidently  try- 
ing to  work  Spencer's  formula  of  evolution  from  homogene- 
ity to  heterogeneity  backwards  as  well  as  forwards. 

But  it  was  not  often  that  the  wine  of  knowledge  went 
to  the  head  that  way.  With  sounder  and  more  deliberate 
preparation  came  a  clearer  notion  of  the  values  derivable 
from  college  training.  The  University  Calendar  for  1885- 
1886,  under  the  subject  of  "Admissions,"  included  this  sug- 
gestive sentence: 

Candidates  from  the  High  Schools  of  Beatrice,  Hastings,  Lin- 
coln, Nebraska  City,  and  Plattsmouth  will  be  admitted  to  the  Fresh- 
man class  without  examination. 

Ten  years  later  this  list  had  grown  to  an  exhibit  of 
sixty-four  names.  Chancellor  Canfield's  success  in  filling 
the  halls  of  instruction  with  college  students  was  due  to 
the  plan  of  accrediting  secondary  schools,  which  had  been 
put  into  effect  in  1884.  This  delay  of  a  dozen  years  in  get- 
ting the  University  into  relations  with  the  public  school 
system,  of  which  it  was  theoretically  a  part,  was  not  a  lit- 
tle fostered  from  within  the  faculty.  One  of  its  prominent 
members,  who  had  served  previously  as  State  Superintend- 
ent of  Public  Instruction,  opposed  use  of  the  high  school, — 
"the  people's  college,"  as  means  of  preparation  for  the 
University.  His  successor,  not  at  all  of  the  same  mind, 
came  enthusiastically  to  the  support  of  Chancellor  Manatt, 
who,  on  arrival,  had  proposed  the  scheme.  Chancellor  Can- 
field  following  set  the  whole  State  agog,  as  we  have  seen, 


ADMISSION  AND  CURRICULA  23 

for  higher  education.  Chancellor  Canfield's  rival  interest, 
which  was  to  make  the  lawmakers  of  Nebraska  know~the 
worth  of  its  chief  institution,  cost  him  the  hardest  joke  of 
his  four  years'  incumbency.  At  a  luncheon  given  in  his 
honor  at  the  Commercial  Club,  on  his  leaving  for  Ohio,  he 
spoke  reminiscently  of  his  work,  and  mentioned  incidentally 
that  he  had  traveled  for  the  University  not  less  than  200,000 
miles.  The  moderator  thanked  him  for  furnishing,  on  the 
eve  of  his  departure,  a  definite  report  on  the  mileage  of 
his  visits  to  the  Capitol  during  legislative  sessions. 

The  specific  requirements  for  admission  to  the  Fresh- 
man class  were,  at  this  time,  except  that  Virgil  was  not 
included  for  Latin  or  Xenophon  for  Greek,  essentially  the 
same  as  now.  Two  semesters'  further  study  in  each  of 
these  languages  was  soon  after  added.  Greek  was  taught 
in  a  considerable  number  of  high  schools,  Latin  in  all. 
Latin  through  six  semesters  was  prerequisite  for  all  the 
scientific  groups,  including  the  Engineering  and  the  Agri- 
cultural. Present  standard  requirements  in  science  date 
from  the  same  years.  Preparation  in  French  and  German 
was  accepted  in  part  fulfillment  of  language  conditions  as 
early  as  1900,  and  allowed  in  full  substitution  after  1911. 
Other  optional  subjects  were  later  added,  finally  raising  the 
number  of  necessary  points  to  thirty. 

Research  studies  were  introduced  at  about  the  same 
time  in  Botany,  Chemistry,  and  Physics,  and  what  was 
called  "original  work"  in  languages  and  History.  A  new 
member  of  the  teaching  force  had  offered  courses,  with 
mistaken  perspective,  in  Sanskrit  and  Gothic  in  the  Calen- 
dar of  1883 — an  anticipation  realized  by  classes  in  each 
subject  under  another  instructor  five  years  later.  The  first 
fruits  of  academic  expansion  were  given  to  the  public  in 
the  opening  number  of  University  Studies,  issued  in  the 
summer  of  1888.  This  included  an  article  on  "The  Eighth 
Verb-Class  in  Sanskrit,"  and  a  mathematical  discussion 
concerning  "The  Transparency  of  the  Ether."  The  latter 
was  reproduced,  in  an  abridged  form,  in  the  Annalen  der 
Physik  und  Chemie  of  the  following  year. 

L.  A.  SHERMAN. 


24  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


EARLY  FACULTY  AND  EQUIPMENT 

The  imagination  is  sometimes  kindled  by  contrasts  in 
the  bigness  of  human  achievements.  Assuredly  the  strug- 
gling infant  of  1871-2  and  the  bouncing  youngster  of  1919 
offer  a  sufficiently  striking  contrast.  Then — and  for  fifteen 
years  thereafter — the  "plant"  consisted  of  a  single  building. 
Now  the  city  campus  has  twenty-one  buildings ;  while  at  the 
"Farm" — where  during  the  first  decade  a  small  frame  cot- 
tage and  a  rude  barn  served  to  "house"  the  college  of  agri- 
culture— there  are  at  present,  big  and  little,  thirty-two 
structures.  Then  the  full  faculty  list  comprised  seven 
names.  Now  the  pay-roll  of  the  University  numbers  800 
persons,  313  of  whom  are  professors,  instructors,  and  others 
with  "fixed  stipends."  During  the  first  year  were  regis- 
tered 130  students,  all  but  20  of  whom  were  in  the  two  sub- 
freshman  years,  called  the  Latin  School.  The  total  sank  to 
123  in  the  second  year  and  to  100  in  the  third.  At  the  close 
of  a  decade,  in  1882,  the  entire  student  body,  including  67 
pupils  in  the  Latin  School,  numbered  but  284  souls ;  where- 
as in  1916-17,  at  the  end  of  the  forty-fifth  year  of  active 
work,  the  roster  of  the  University,  including  "schools"  and 
"extension"  students,  enrolls  a  grand  total  of  5,405  men  and 
women.  A  like  contrast  is  revealed  by  the  expanding  bud- 
get. During  the  first  year  the  total  expenditure  for  all 
activities  of  the  institution,  including  repairs  and  the 
"beautifying"  of  grounds,  was  $26,840.69 ;  in  the  eight  years 
(1879-1880)  it  had  fallen  to  $25,197;  while  during  the  pres- 
ent biennium,  including  building,  the  University  is  costing 
the  sum  of  $4,000,000.  Huge  as  this  figure  seems,  it  should 
be  speedily  increased  to  $6,000,000  per  biennium,  if  salaries 
and  equipment  are  to  be  raised  to  their  just  level. 

Still  bigness  is  not  everything.  "Mark  Hopkins  on  a 
log"  may  not  accurately  express  the  modern  ideal  of  a  uni- 
versity. The  epigram  does,  however,  contain  a  precious 
kernel  of  truth.  It  exalts  the  vital  quality  of  the  teacher's 
personality.  A  very  humble  habitation  in  which  lives  a 
great  soul  may  mean  much  for  the  spiritual  life  of  a  com- 


EARLY  FACULTY  AND  EQ UIPMENT  25 

monwealth.  For  fifteen  years — until  1886  when  the  first 
chemical  laboratory  was  ready  for  use — the  old  central 
building  on  the  city  campus — in  recent  years  known  as 
"University  Hall" — was  the  sole  domicile  of  the  University 
of  Nebraska.  In  popular  phrase  it  was  "The  University." 
Of  a  truth  that  modest  structure  deserves  the  respect,  the 
reverence,  of  the  people  of  the  state,  as  it  has  the  honor  and 
love  of  the  men  and  women — many  builders  of  the  common- 
wealth— who  caught  inspiration  within  its  walls.  What 
those  two  ancient  Halls  at  her  campus  gate  are  to  Harvard, 
the  venerable  University  Hall  should  be  to  our  own  institu- 
tion. Let  it  not  be  touched  by  any  destroying  hand.  Let 
it  stand  as  long  as  nature  may  suffer  it  to  endure  as  a 
monument  to  the  courageous  souls  who  with  slender  means 
during  lean  years  and  perilous  crises  laid  the  spiritual 
foundations  of  Nebraska's  chief  temple  of  learning. 

In  the  little  rooms  of  that  old  structure  were  fostered 
into  vigorous  life  many  of  the  "departments"  which  now 
find  their  homes  each  in  a  separate  building  or  even  in  sev- 
eral buildings;  while  some  of  those  departments  have  ex- 
panded into  "schools"  and  "colleges."  Thus,  for  a  decade 
and  a  half,  chemistry  found  a  home  in  104,  the  little  north- 
east room  on  the  first  floor.  Physics,  under  Professor  Col- 
lier, was  housed  in  102  and  103  just  opposite.  At  a  later 
time  rooms  103  and  104  became  the  cradle  of  the  college  of 
Engineering;  for  there,  in  the  eighties,  Professor  C.  N. 
Little  developed  a  vigorous  department  of  Civil  Engineer- 
ing, one  of  whose  early  products  was  Dean  Stout,  now  head 
of  the  college.  History,  the  first  of  the  social  sciences  to 
be  organized,  got  its  start  in  204,  the  northeast  corner  room 
on  the  second  floor;  while  in  205,  the  adjacent  room,  the 
office  and  the  collections  of  the  State  Historical  Society 
were  sheltered  for  six  years,  1885-1891.  In  that  same  tiny, 
ill-lighted  cubicle,  in  1889-1891,  Dr.  Amos  G.  Warner,  Pro- 
fessor Howard  W.  Caldwell,  and  the  writer  organized  a 
joint  seminar  of  history  and  economics;  the  first  graduate 
seminar  to  be  founded  in  the  University  of  Nebraska.  The 
genesis  of  the  department  of  philosophy  took  place  in  room 
112  on  the  first  floor;  and  this  same  room,  for  many  years 


26  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

the  Chancellor's  office — for  a  long  time  the  only  "office" — 
was  the  embryo  of  Administration  Hall.  The  beginnings 
of  the  University  library  were  sufficiently  humble.  Its 
germ-cell  was  room  202  on  the  second  floor.  For  fifteen 
years  that  cramped  space  served  as  stack-room  and  read- 
ing-room combined.  The  annual  expenditure  for  books  was 
not  lavish.  According  to  the  report  of  the  librarian  for  the 
year  ending  June  8,  1881,  seventy-two  bound  volumes  had 
been  added  during  the  period ;  while  the  entire  library  then 
consisted  of  2,781  bound  volumes  and  700  pamphlets :  about 
two-thirds  the  size  of  the  present  "Howard  Reference 
Library"  for  the  department  of  Political  Science  and 
Sociology. 

Such  were  the  scanty  materials  with  which  the  first 
faculty  undertook  the  hard  and  delicate  task  of  building  a 
university  on  the  Nebraska  plains.  They  were  not  men 
of  wide  national  repute.  Several  had  had  experience  in 
small  denominational  colleges.  Not  one  was  of  transcend- 
ant  ability.  Most  of  them  were  persons  of  strong  character 
and  high  ideals.  The  dominant  conservatism  of  the  group 
was  a  real  safeguard  in  undertaking  the  then  bold  experi- 
ment of  determining  the  methods,  planning  the  curriculum, 
and  starting  the  traditions  of  a  secular,  a  public,  Univer- 
sity for  a  pioneer  society. 

One  naturally  turns  first  to  the  man  at  the  helm.  It 
was  fortunate  for  the  state  that  Dr.  A.  R.  Benton  was 
called  to  the  high  task  of  organizing  and  first  administer- 
ing the  Chancellor's  office.  In  1871,  when  he  took  charge 
of  the  work,  public  sentiment  was  not  clearly  in  favor  of 
the  state  support  and  control  of  college  education.  Many 
feared  that  harm  would  follow  from  the  secularization  of 
higher  education.  The  state  university  as  an  institution 
was  still  on  trial  in  the  United  States.  Furthermore,  as 
yet,  public  opinion  strongly  favored  broad  cultural  courses 
of  instruction.  True,  there  was  already  a  demand  for  more 
generous  recognition  of  the  sciences  as  a  necessary  founda- 
tion for  the  world's  work ;  but  the  enormous  differentiation 
of  the  department-subjects  which  now  fill  the  register  was 
then  hardly  dreamed  of.  The  traditional  belief  that  higher 


EARLY  FACULTY  AND  EQUIPMENT     27 

education  should  be  religiously,  even  ecclesiastically^di- 
rected  was  still  strong;  but  it  was  in  process  of  transition 
to  the  ideal  of  its  entire  secularization.  Chancellor  Benton 
had  just  the  qualities  of  heart  and  mind,  the  breadth  of  hu- 
manism, needed  in  the  transition  stage.  While  he  was  an 
enlightened  and  faithful  representative  of  orthodox  Chris- 
tianity, he  was  able  firmly  to  grasp  the  new  ideal  of  public 
education  as  the  safeguard  of  society.  He  was  tolerant  in 
his  daily  walk  and  conversation.  He  was  a  refined  gentle- 
man ;  a  scholar  accomplished  in  the  humanities  of  his  day. 
Furthermore,  he  was  a  good  teacher ;  for  he  was  both  chan- 
cellor and  professor  of  "intellectual  and  moral  science,"  be- 
sides finding  time  on  the  side  to  teach  classes  in  Latin, 
Greek,  and  history.  He  was  able  to  co-operate  with  his 
colleagues  in  their  great  task.  As  a  result,  during  his  term 
of  service  (1871-1876),  the  University  of  Nebraska  was 
solidly  planted.  It  passed  rapidly  through  the  first  and 
critical  stage  of  institutional  growth.  It  struck  its  roots 
deeply  in  the  affections  of  the  people.  As  a  faithful  and 
efficient  social  servant,  as  a  conscientious  and  prudent  in- 
stitution-builder, the  name  of  A.  R.  Benton  is  enrolled 
among  the  most  honored  and  the  most  beloved  makers  of 
the  commonwealth. 

It  is  with  feelings  of  intense  pleasure  that  I  recall  the 
personalities  of  the  little  group  of  teachers  constituting  the 
first  faculty  of  the  University.  The  "professor  of  ancient 
languages  and  literature"  was  A.  H.  Manley,  a  refined, 
gently-speaking  scholar  of  the  old  regime.  S.  R.  Thompson, 
"professor  of  theoretical  and  practical  agriculture,"  and 
after  1873,  "dean  of  the  college  of  agriculture,"  did  the 
best  he  could  at  a  time  when  in  the  United  States  the  col- 
lege of  agriculture  as  an  institution  had  not  yet  discovered 
its  right  functions  nor  its  proper  methods.  Samuel  Aughey, 
graduated  at  Pennsylvania  College  in  1856  and  recently 
(1867-1871)  in  the  employ  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
was  placed  in  charge  of  a  veritable  settee  of  subjects.  His 
professorship  of  "chemistry  and  natural  sciences"  was  suf- 
ficiently broad,  even  for  pioneer  days,  embracing  all  the 
instruction  given  in  botany,  zoology,  geology,  and  chemis- 


28  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

try.  In  addition,  for  several  years,  he  taught  the  classes 
in  German  and  devoted  his  remaining  spare  time  to  the  col- 
lection of  an  herbarium  of  the  flora  of  the  state.  Professor 
Aughey  was  a  lovable  personality.  He  possessed  a  vast 
amount  of  miscellaneous  knowledge ;  but  the  enormous  bur- 
den laid  upon  his  shoulders  by  the  University  did  not  tend 
to  foster  scientific  precision. 

H.  E.  Hitchcock,  "professor  of  mathematics,"  was  for 
his  time  an  accomplished  scholar.  He  was  called  from  the 
same  chair  at  Knox  College  where  he  graduated  in  1846.  He 
was  a  devoted  teacher,  a  good  citizen,  a  generous  neighbor, 
a  strong  moral  force  in  the  community.  "Professor  Hitch- 
cock," writes  H.  W.  Caldwell  in  his  excellent  history,  "was 
accurate,  systematic,  and  always  at  his  post;"  surely  a 
tribute  of  which  a  teacher  may  well  be  proud. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting,  not  to  say  picturesque 
and  eccentric,  character  in  that  little  band  of  institution- 
builders  was  the  Rev.  Orsamus  C.  Dake,  the  first  "professor 
of  rhetoric  and  English  literature"  and  the  first  dean  of 
the  Arts  College.  He  possessed  the  scholarly  tastes  and 
the  refined  manners  of  a  typical  clergyman  of  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church.  He  represented  the  aesthetic  ele- 
ment in  the  teaching  force.  He  loved  literature  as  a  fine 
art;  and  his  lofty  ideals,  keen  sensibilities,  and  poetic  im- 
agination are  revealed  in  his  two  volumes  of  verse,  the 
Nebraska  Legends  and  Poems  (1871)  and  the  Midland 
Poems  (1873).  These  little  books  are  the  first  contribution 
of  the  University  to  genuine  literature ;  and  they  constitute 
a  worthy  monument  to  the  great  soiiled  humanist  who 
shed  a  refining  influence  on  the  academic  life  during  his 
brief  term  of  service;  for  he  died  in  1875. 

A  remarkable  personality  of  a  quite  different  type  was 
George  E.  Church,  "principal  of  the  Latin  School"  and, 
after  1874,  first  "professor  of  Latin  language  and  litera- 
ture." A  man  of  powerful  intellect  and  commanding  pres- 
ence, Professor  Church  was  easily  the  most  "modern" 
scholar  and  the  best  trained  teacher  in  the  University. 
Under  his  hand  the  foundation  of  the  Latin  department 
was  solidly  laid.  After  his  return  from  Germany  in  1878, 


EARLY  FACULTY  AND  EQUIPMENT     29 

the  most  efficient  methods  were  introduced.  In  his  academic- 
career  Professor  Church  displayed  the  great  native  ability 
which  for  many  years  has  made  him  the  brilliant  judge  of 
the  superior  court  in  Fresno,  California,  where  he  is  still 
leader  of  the  bar. 

It  remains  to  offer  a  tribute  of  honor  and  affection  to 
the  noble  woman  who  was  first  of  her  sex  to  hold  a  teach- 
ing position  in  the  University  of  Nebraska.  Miss  Ellen 
Smith  entered  the  faculty  in  the  spring  of  1877.  In  vari- 
ous capacities — as  "instructor  in  Latin  and  Greek,"  "prin- 
cipal of  the  Latin  School,"  "custodian  of  the  library,"  and 
"registrar" — she  served  the  University  for  twenty-four 
years  zealously  and  efficiently  (1877-1901).  Her  toilsome 
life  was  consecrated  to  the  conscientious  performance  of 
duty.  She  was  the  very  type  of  womanly  faithfulness  and 
humanism.  She  was  loved  by  the  students,  even  by  those 
whom  she  rebuked  for  their  shortcomings ;  and  she  was  re- 
spected by  her  colleagues,  even  by  those  whom  as  registrar 
she  frankly  scolded  for  laxity  in  rendering  their  official 
reports.  Her  staunch  personality  was  the  very  symbol  of 
probity  and  moral  courage.  Her  example  was  a  precious 
influence  in  the  academic  life.  Let  us  honor  the  work  of 
Ellen  Smith  as  a  rich  earnest  of  the  equal  share  which 
women  shall  have  in  building  the  future  university  when 
the  sex-line  shall  not  be  drawn  in  determining  either  the 
choice  or  the  rewards  of  its  servants. 

GEORGE  ELLIOTT  HOWARD. 


30  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES 

To  the  honor  of  Nebraska,  at  the  very  beginning  of  its 
life,  its  citizens  were  ready  to  act  in  full  harmony  with  the 
rising  tide  of  higher  education.  The  Hon.  Augustus  F. 
Harvey,  who  drafted  the  University  Charter,  was  inter- 
ested in  a  university  rather  than  a  college,  and  with  a  chan- 
cellor rather  than  a  president  as  its  head.  His  aim  was  to 
combine  in  one  organization  all  lines  of  higher  education, 
and  he  planned  to  include  in  the  University  of  Nebraska, 
located  at  Lincoln,  advanced  work  in  the  fields  of  language 
and  literature,  law,  medicine,  art,  science,  manual  training, 
and  agriculture.  By  this  unity  he  hoped  that  the  educa- 
tional expenses  of  the  state  would  be  lessened,  and  that  the 
opportunity  for  all  students  to  find  the  fields  in  which  they 
had  the  greatest  interest  and  ability  would  be  increased. 

The  act  as  it  was  passed  in  1869  provided  for  six  col- 
leges, which  indicated  the  fields  of  education  in  mind  at 
that  time:  "first,  a  college  of  ancient  and  modern  litera- 
ture, mathematics,  and  the  natural  sciences;  second,  a  col- 
lege of  agriculture ;  third,  a  college  of  law ;  fourth,  a  college 
of  medicine ;  fifth,  a  college  of  practical  science,  civil  engin- 
eering, and  mechanics;  and  sixth,  a  college  of  fine  arts." 
Naturally  it  took  many  years  to  work  out  the  very  exten- 
sive and  complex  plans  of  the  charter  of  1869.  One  smiles 
now  as  he  looks  back  on  the  simplicity  of  the  first  years 
of  the  new  institution,  but  he  soon  sees  in  those  simple 
beginnings  the  promise  of  greater  things. 

University  Hall,  the  first  building  erected,  and  the  only 
one  on  the  campus  until  1886,  was  practically  completed 
by  September,  1871.  On  Thursday,  September  7th,  of  that 
year,  the  University  and  its  preparatory  or  "Latin"  school 
held  their  inaugural  meetings,  and  the  life  of  the  University 
of  Nebraska  began.  Only  one  college — not  six — was  opened, 
"the  college  of  ancient  and  modern  literature,  mathematics, 
and  the  natural  sciences."  The  Chancellor  and  six  pro- 
fessors had  been  selected,  but  only  five  of  the  seven  were 
present  during  the  year  1871-72.  The  courses  of  study  of- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES    31 

f ered  were  as  follows :  "moral  science"  by  Chancellor  A.  R. 
Benton;  "ancient  languages"  by  Professor  A.  H.  Manly~ 
"English  literature  and  rhetoric"  by  Professor  0.  C.  Dake, 
"physics  and  natural  science"  by  Professor  S.  Aughey.  The 
above  professors,  and  Principal  G.  E.  Church,  taught  what- 
ever mathematics  and  modern  languages  were  given  in  that 
year.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  there  were  only  twenty 
college  students  in  attendance  this  first  year:  one  junior, 
two  sophomores,  five  freshmen,  and  twelve  irregulars.  In 
the  following  years  the  growth  was  very  slight;  yet  the 
figures  given  indicate  that  on  the  whole  the  life  of  the 
University  was  slowly  improving.  The  students  enrolled 
for  the  years  from  1871  to  1877  were  20,  46,  43,  48,  66,  and 
67  respectively,  while  those  present  in  the  Latin  school 
were  110,  77,  57,  69,  198,  161. 

The  agricultural  college,  the  second  college  to  be  or- 
ganized, was  started  in  1872  with  S.  R.  Thompson  as  dean 
and  professor  of  theoretical  and  practical  agriculture.  In 
1874  the  present  agricultural  farm  was  acquired,  and  dur- 
ing the  year  1874-75  its  first  student  body,  fifteen  in  num- 
ber, entered  the  University.  Again  it  is  interesting  to 
notice  that  years  passed  before  any  significant  growth  took 
place.  In  fact,  the  number  of  students  in  the  new  college 
decreased  until  in  later  years  a  reorganization  took  place. 
The  students  in  the  college  of  agriculture  from  1875  to  1881 
numbered  as  follows:  15,  13,  16,  9,  9,  12 — thus  showing 
that  a  purely  agricultural  state  did  not  as  yet  afford  popular 
support  to  a  purely  agricultural  school. 

Nebraska  formed  a  new  state  constitution  in  1875. 
Under  its  provisions  a  new  board  of  regents  was  elected 
by  the  people.  They  had  power  to  make  changes  in  uni- 
versity organization,  and  this  gave  to  the  institution  an 
adaptability  that  it  had  not  before  possessed.  Theij  action 
in  1877  changed  the  titles  of  the  colleges  and  reduced  the 
number  to  five,  as  follows:  "first,  a  college  of  literature, 
science,  and  the  arts;  second,  an  industrial  college  embrac- 
ing architecture,  practical  science,  civil  engineering,  and 
the  mechanic  arts ;  third,  a  college  of  law ;  fourth,  a  college 
of  medicine ;  fifth,  a  college  of  fine  arts."  The  main  purpose 


32  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

of  the  industrial  college  was  to  connect  the  agricultural 
work  with  science,  engineering,  and  mechanics,  in  order  to 
save,  and  thus  develop,  agricultural  work.  It  was  as  dean 
of  this  college  that  Dr.  Charles  E.  Bessey  gave  to  the  Uni- 
versity the  best  years  of  his  life;  and  though  he  outlived 
the  college  itself,  he  did  so  only  to  step  into  still  higher 
rank,  and  into  a  still  higher  place  in  the  regard  of  the 
University  of  the  state. 

Had  the  union  of  agriculture  with  science  and  mechanics 
not  taken  place  when  it  did  it  is  almost  certain  that  the 
agricultural  college  would  have  been  removed  to  some  other 
section  of  the  state.  Even  after  the  growth  of  the  indus- 
trial college,  demands  were  made  for  the  establishment  of 
an  agricultural  college  away  from  Lincoln  and  the  Univer- 
sity. In  1885  an  attempt  was  made  to  divide  the  industrial 
college  and  remove  the  agricultural  section.  This  move- 
ment was  repeated  in  1889,  and  the  plan  probably  failed 
of  realization  in  the  legislature  only  from  lack  of  time. 

The  first  important  increase  in  the  number  of  profes- 
sors took  place  in  1877  when  the  total  rose  to  fifteen.  Later, 
with  the  establishment  of  the  various  colleges,  and  with 
the  growth  of  the  student  body,  a  rapid  development  took 
place.  By  1890  there  were  nineteen  on  the  academic  facul- 
ty, twenty-two  on  the  industrial  faculty,  eight  in  the  Latin 
school,  three  in  fine  arts,  and  nine  on  the  working  staff 
of  the  agricultural  experiment  station.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  overlapping,  indeed,  for  there  were  altogether  only 
thirty-two  teachers  in  the  University.  By  1912  the  faculty 
had  increased  to  238  professors  and  assistants,  with  ninety 
others  in  the  pay  of  the  University  in  various  capacities. 

The  plan  adopted  in  1877  for  reorganizing  the  colleges 
of  the  University  remained  the  legal  form  until  1908-09. 
During  the  years  1877  to  1908  all  the  colleges  provided  for 
in  the  act  of  1877  except  that  of  fine  arts  were  founded. 
In  the  earlier  part  of  this  period  the  development  of  the 
University  was  mainly  in  the  arts  college.  After  1883 
new  departments  were  organized,  and  development  began 
to  spread  to  other  fields.  But  it  was  not  until  the  '90's 
that  any  remarkably  rapid  growth  began  to  take  place. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES   33 

Doubtless  the  foundation  had  been  laid  for  real  progress, 
but  the  word  university  can  hardly  be  used  for  the  institu- 
tion before  that  date,  and  it  was  not  until  after  1908  that 
the  full  organization  of  all  colleges  was  made. 

Though  the  largest  attendance  during  these  years — 
1877-1908 — was  in  the  college  of  literature,  science  and  the 
arts,  yet  the  enrollment  in  the  industrial  college  was  rela- 
tively large.  All  the  teaching,  however,  except  in  certain 
phases  of  agriculture,  took  place  on  the  city  campus  and 
not  at  the  Farm;  and  as  a  rule  a  large  proportion  of  the 
students  of  the  two  colleges  were  in  the  same  classes.  These 
facts  led  many  to  hold  that  the  real  attendance  in  the  col- 
lege of  agriculture  was  very  slight,  and  hence  that  a  re- 
organization ought  to  be  made.  This  was  effected,  and 
since  1909  a  remarkable  growth  and  development  in  the 
agricultural  departments  have  taken  place.  The  agricul- 
tural college  was  clearly  defined,  and  its  students  were 
taught  at  the  Farm  by  professors  and  instructors  of  agri- 
culture. The  field  was  made  very  broad  and  included  full 
four-year  courses  in  many  branches,  all  calculated  to  give 
preparation  for  practicing  or  teaching  in  matters  connected 
with  farm  work  or  home  industrial  life.  The  college  now 
had  as  its  head  a  dean  of  agriculture,  A.  E.  Burnett,  an 
able  man  of  exceptional  merit  and  great  organizing  capa- 
city. 

The  medical  college  was  opened  in  1883,  and  remained 
an  organized  college  until  1888,  when  it  was  closed,  in  part 
on  account  of  expense  and  in  part  on  account  of  state  criti- 
cism. In  1902  the  medical  college  was  revived  under  the 
deanship  of  Professor  H.  B.  Ward.  Under  the  new  arrange- 
ment the  first  two  years  of  the  medical  course  were  pursued 
in  the  laboratories  at  Lincoln  and  the  last  two  in  the  clinical 
courses  of  the  Omaha  Medical  College.  In  1913  the  whole 
medical  college  was  removed  to  Omaha  to  take  advantage 
of  the  better  hospital  facilities  of  the  larger  city.  At  this 
move,  the  Omaha  Medical  College  was  absorbed  and  re- 
organized by  the  University  itself.  The  medical  course  at 
present  involves  a  six-years'  curriculum  of  which  the  first 
two,  or  pre-medical  years,  are  pursued  at  Lincoln. 


34  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

In  1908,  with  R.  A.  Lyman  as  head,  a  school  of  pharmacy 
was  established  as  an  adjunct  of  the  medical  college.  After- 
wards, in  1915,  the  legislature  erected  this  school  into  an 
independent  college.  It  is  now  about  to  enter  a  permanent 
home  in  the  remodeled  building  which  the  chemistry  de- 
partment has  recently  vacated. 

The  college  of  law  was  founded  in  1892,  and  has  re- 
mained unchanged  in  form  and  name  to  the  present  time. 
It  attained  its  effective  organization  under  Dean  Roscoe 
Pound,  who  served  it  from  1903  to  1907,  and  was  then 
called  successively  to  the  law  colleges  at  Northwestern, 
Chicago,  and  Harvard.  He  is  now  dean  of  Harvard  Law 
School.  The  present  dean,  Judge  W.  G.  Hastings,  acted 
as  Chancellor  of  the  University  during  1918.  At  America's 
entry  into  the  war  practically  all  the  students  of  the  law 
college,  and  at  least  one  of  the  faculty,  entered  the  military 
service.  With  their  return  the  college  is  again  taking  up 
its  work  with  a  normally  large  attendance. 

Important  changes  were  made  by  the  state  legislature 
under  the  advice  of  the  Chancellor  and  the  regents  of  the 
University  in  1909.  By  one  such  change  the  old  "college 
of  literature,  science,  and  the  arts"  received  the  title  "col- 
lege of  arts  and  sciences."  The  province  of  this  college 
included  the  ancient  and  modern  languages,  history,  econ- 
omics, political  science  and  sociology,  rhetoric  and  English, 
mathematics,  philosophy,  and  the  physical  sciences.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  its  field  was  more  clearly  defined. 

The  college  of  engineering  was  provided  for  at  the  same 
time,  and  was  so  constituted  as  to  include  all  the  depart- 
ments of  engineering,  drawing,  certain  phases  of  mathe- 
matics and  natural  science.  It  was  organized  first  under 
Dean  C.  R.  Richards,  now  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  and 
since  1912  has  been  in  charge  of  Dean  0.  V.  P.  Stout. 

In  1908  provision  was  made  for  a  teacher's  college,  thus 
adding  a  new  field  for  the  work  of  the  University.  A  college 
high  school  was  created,  and  senior  college  students  were 
trained  as  teachers  under  the  principal  of  the  school  and 
his  assistants.  The  registration  has  been  large,  and  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES     35 

work  has  been  of  such  a  grade  that  those  who  have-re- 
ceived a  state  teacher's  certificate  as  a  result  of  their  work 
there  are  recognized  in  most  states  as  prepared  teachers. 
From  1914  to  1918  a  graduate  college  of  education  was  con- 
ducted and  a  provision  was  made  for  a  dean  and  a  commit- 
tee to  plan  work  for  the  degrees  of  master  of  arts  and  doctor 
of  philosophy. 

In  correlation  with  all  the  undergraduate  colleges,  there 
was  established  in  1893  a  graduate  college  under  the  dean- 
ship  of  Professor  A.  H.  Edgren.  Thus  the  structure  of  the 
real  university  was  rounded  out  before  the  close  of  the  first 
quarter  century.  Since  Professor  Edgren's  departure  in 
1900  the  graduate  college  has  been  developed  under  Dr.  L. 
A.  Sherman,  head  of  the  department  of  English. 

This  brief  outline  brings  out  the  growth  of  the  Univer- 
sity, both  in  clearness  of  organization  and  in  development 
of  lines  of  work.  The  colleges  of  its  fiftieth  year  are  well 
arranged,  and  all  are  in  distinct  life,  and  well  attended.  It 
is  still  true,  however,  that  the  college  of  arts  and  sciences 
stands  first  in  numbers  both  of  faculty  and  of  students. 

The  word  school  as  it  has  been  used  in  connection  with 
branches  of  work  in  the  University  has  varied,  and  still 
varies,  in  meaning.  At  first,  from  1871  to  1895,  it  was  ap- 
plied to  the  "Latin  school"  for  preparatory  work.  In  early 
days — perhaps  until  1885 — the  number  of  students  in  the 
Latin  school  was  greater  than  in  all  the  colleges  of  the 
University  proper.  In  later  years  the  word  school  has  been 
used  to  designate  collegiate  as  well  as  preparatory  organi- 
zations. A  "sugar  school"  existed  from  1896  to  1900,  but 
the  failure  of  the  beet  sugar  work  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  state,  together  with  the  request  of  the  agricultural  col- 
lege, led  to  its  elimination.  A  "school  of  mechanic  arts," 
formed  in  1896,  became  a  part  of  the  engineering  college 
in  1909 ;  and  a  "school  of  domestic  science"  created  in  1898 
was  transferred  to  the  state  farm  in  1906  and  included  in 
the  agricultural  college. 

Other  schools  that  have  been  formed  are  still  in  exist- 
ence, and  in  process  of  development.  The  school  of  fine 
arts,  established  in  1898,  is  now,  under  Professor  Paul 


36  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

Grummann  as  director,  an  important  section  of  the  work 
of  the 'University.  Art  and  music  are  taught  in  their  his- 
tory, theory,  and  practice,  with  a  regular  four  years'  course, 
so  that  degrees  are  granted  to  its  students  on  the  same 
basis  as  to  the  students  of  the  colleges. 

The  work  in  commerce  and  accounting  developed  under 
Professor  J.  E.  LeRossignol  was  given  definite  standing  as 
a  school  in  1913,  with  Professor  LeRossignol  as  its  director. 
Under  the  new  social  and  educational  conditions  its  work 
promises  to  develop  and  become  more  and  more  important, 
as  the  years  go  on.  The  school  of  commerce  has  just  been 
elevated  by  the  regents  to  a  college,  as  this  anniversary  book 
goes  to  press. 

There  are,  under  the  control  of  the  board  of  regents, 
two  schools  of  preparatory  rank,  one  at  the  Farm  and  one 
at  Curtis,  both  devoted  to  the  teaching  of  agricultural 
subjects. 

H.  W.  CALDWELL. 


BUILDINGS  AND  GROUNDS 

The  commissioners  who  located  and  laid  out  the  capital 
city  and  set  aside  four  blocks  for  the  University  campus, 
must  have  selected  the  location  of  these  four  blocks  when 
blindfolded.  No  good  angel  whispered  to  them  of  seats  of 
learning  set  upon  the  hills.  The  gentle  slopes  of  the  Ante- 
lope valley  were  ignored,  and  a  site  bordering  on  Salt  Creek 
valley  and  inevitably  in  the  path  of  railroads,  then  immin- 
ent, was  chosen.  Next,  with  money  derived  from  the  sale 
of  lots  in  the  new  capital  city,  the  commission  proceeded 
to  erect  a  building.  The  methods  of  contractors  and  of- 
ficial boards  were  genuinely  American,  however.  The  legis- 
lature had  appropriated  $100,000  for  the  erection  of  a  build- 
ing. In  June,  1869,  seemingly  in  anticipation  of  a  contract, 
R.  D.  Silver  arrived  in  Lincoln  to  establish  a  brickyard, 
and  on  August  18,  following,  his  foresight  was  justified  by 
the  award  of  the  contract  for  the  University  building  for 
$128,480.  Troubles  arose  very  soon  afterwards,  and  their 


BUILDINGS  AND  GROUNDS  37 

ramifications  contributed  to  the  pioneer  history  of  the  state, 
involving  finally  the  governor,  who  as  president  of  the 
board  of  regents,  had  approved  the  expenditure  of  a  sum 
in  excess  of  the  appropriation.  Charges  to  this  effect  formed 
one  of  the  items  in  a  subsequent  impeachment  trial. 

In  his  first  report,  made  in  June,  1872,  Chancellor  Ben- 
ton  said,  "Some  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  making 
the  roof  impervious  to  rain."  It  may  be  added  in  this  con- 
nection that  this  difficulty  in  achieving  imperviousness  has 
persisted  down  to  date,  and  was  a  matter  of  common  knowl- 
edge and  comment  in  the  student  body  through  all  the  earlier 
college  generations.  In  his  first  report,  the  chancellor  also 
called  the  attention  of  the  regents  to  the  furnaces  which 
failed  to  heat  the  building  and  were  costly  to  operate.  In 
his  second  report  in  June,  1873,  he  stated  that  class  rooms 
had  been  heated  by  stoves  during  the  past  winter,  and  ad- 
vocated the  introduction  of  stoves  in  the  chapel  also.  Early 
generations  of  students  remember  the  ugly  and  insatiable 
stoves  that  made  winter  use  of  the  old  chapel  possible,  but 
never  comfortable.  The  old  chapel,  in  the  north  wing  of 
what  is  now  known  as  University  Hall,  occupied  the  second 
and  third  floors,  the  rostrum  being  at  the  north  end,  with  a 
gallery  across  the  south  end.  The  seats  were  the  traditional 
pews.  With  its  wealth  of  bleak  walls,  its  stained  and  peril- 
ous ceiling,  a  more  uninspiring  room  cannot  well  be  im- 
agined; but  pioneer  spirit  was  not  so  easily  daunted. 

Until  the  installation  of  a  steam-heated  plant  in  the  east 
side  of  the  north  wing  of  the  basement  in  1885,  the  janitor 
service  was  performed  by  students  who  were  remunerated 
very  modestly,  one,  at  least,  being  permitted  to  sleep  in  the 
building.  The  care  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  hard-coal 
base  burners  constituted  the  most  laborious  part  of  the 
janitor  work.  Huge  ash-heaps  accumulated  in  the  angle 
west  of  the  north  wing.  Pioneer  children  mounted  these 
ash  heaps  in  order  to  view  the  skeletons  in  the  museum  on 
the  first  floor,  underneath  the  chapel. 

With  the  coming  of  the  steam  plant,  John  Green  entered 
the  service  of  the  university  as  head  janitor  and  engineer. 
Until  the  removal  of  the  heating  plant  to  the  new  boiler 


38  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

house  in  1888,  the  policing  of  the  campus  brought  student 
life  in  close  touch  with  the  head  janitor.  If  the  students 
chanted  some  appropriate  air  when  John  appeared  to  turn 
out  the  lights,  the  chances  were  that  the  lights  would  not 
go  out  too  abruptly.  If  they  invited  John  to  their  Thanks- 
giving "feed,"  they  usually  were  privileged  to  wash  their 
dishes  in  the  steam  down  in  the  boiler  room.  When  they 
graduated,  they  hunted  for  John  when  adieus  to  the  campus 
were  in  order,  and  heard  something  like  this:  "Well,  I 
don't  see  what  the  university  is  going  to  do  for  students 
next  year.  When  your  class  is  gone,  there  won't  be  any- 
body worth  while  around  any  more." 

Old  "U  Hall"  has  withstood  the  vicissitudes  and  calum- 
nies of  time,  and  still  is  doing  good  service  to  the  state. 
Condemned  as  physically  unfit  from  its  beginning,  the  build- 
ing has  undergone,  from  time  to  time,  extensive  repairs. 
The  original  foundation,  chiefly  of  soft  brown  sandstone, 
was  removed  and  a  limestone  foundation  substituted.  For 
months  the  building  stood  on  jack-screws  and,  be  it  not  for- 
gotten, also  on  its  complete  system  of  inside  cross  walls, 
which  extend  from  the  basement  to  the  roof.  Three  years 
ago  its  front  walls  were  found  to  be  bulging  a  few  inches. 
The  regents,  with  a  retinue)  of  architects  and  engineers, 
filed  solemnly  through  the  building,  and  the  result  is  a 
series  of  steel  uprights  riveted  through  the  building  from 
south  to  north  by  steel  cables,  making  it  indubitably  safe, 
and  giving  the  exterior  what  Chancellor  Avery  describes 
as  a  "corduroy  effect." 

Inside  it  is  much  the  same  as  of  yore,  except  that  the 
chapel,  after  being  once  remodelled  was  finally  divided  into 
two  floors  and  further  remodelled  for  class  room  purposes. 
The  same  old  bell  that  summoned  the  first  students  to  morn- 
ing prayers — a  bell  now  cracked  and  scarcely  audible  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  old  campus — summons  the  younger, 
gayer,  better  dressed  and  housed  students  to  convocation, 
or  announces  football  victories.  During  the  war  it  tolled 
the  eleven  o'clock  angelus  up  to  November  li,  1918. 

The  original  campus  covered  four  city  blocks.  Until 
1886  University  Hall  was  the  sole  edifice.  The  campus 


BUILDINGS  AND  GROUNDS  39 

differed  little  in  appearance  from  the  prairie  about  it  for 
a  number  of  years.  Citizens  tethered  their  family  cows 
on  it,  children  picked  violets  and  buffalo  beans  there.  Chan- 
cellor Benton's  first  report  describes  plans  for  walks,  drives 
and  tree  planting,  and  mentions  consultations  with  land- 
scape artists  in  Chicago,  and  the  final  selection  of  home 
talent  for  the  purpose.  It  was  planned  to  experiment  with 
a  variety  of  species  of  trees.  A  hedge  of  red  cedar  and 
osage  orange  was  placed  about  the  campus,  and  hundreds 
of  trees  were  planted,  only  to  perish.  In  the  Chancellor's 
report  in  June,  1875,  it  is  stated  that  the  professor  and  stu- 
dents of  the  agricultural  college  had  planted  trees  all  around 
the  campus  with  great  care  and  that  the  janitor  had  ad- 
mirably tended  the  grounds,  though  the  floral  part  had 
several  times  been  cut  down  by  locusts.  Gravelled  walks 
led  from  the  streets  to  the  building,  and  the  grounds  were 
partially  enclosed  at  one  time,  by  a  board  fence.  As  years 
went  on  board  walks  consisting  of  two  parallel  planks  about 
a  foot  apart  were  laid — a  contribution  to  the  gaiety  of  the 
campus  literature,  as  examination  of  the  Hesperian  files,  on 
the  subject  of  "coeducational  sidewalks,"  will  attest. 

During  the  administration  of  Chancellor  Canfield  the 
legislature  made  a  special  appropriation  for  the  iron  fence 
which  now  surrounds  the  original  campus. 

The  old  University  building  was  filled  to  overflowing 
with  faculty,  students,  and  equipment,  when  the  chemistry 
building  was  first  occupied  by  the  natural  science  depart- 
ments in  1886.  The  University  then  entered  on  a  period 
of  rapid  expansion,  and  every  legislature  since  that  of  1885, 
with  the  exception  of  those  of  1893  and  1901,  has  made 
special  appropriations  for  University  buildings  to  the  total 
amount  of  over  three  million  dollars.  The  difficulty  of 
securing  the  building  appropriations  was  so  great  in  the 
earlier  period  that  success  was  the  signal  for  student  demon- 
strations on  the  campus  and  around  the  town.  A  bon  fire, 
some  soap-box  oratory,  a  march  to  the  chancellor's  house, 
or  to  the  capitol  were  in  order. 

The  cornerstone  of  Nebraska  Hall  was  laid  on  Com- 
mencement Day  of  1888  and  impressive  ceremonies  were 


40  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

conducted  there  by  the  scientific  members  of  the  class  of 
1888,  after  the  dignitaries  had  placed  the  cornerstone  and 
departed.  The  next  building  to  be  constructed  was  the 
armory,  known  as  Grant  Memorial  Hall.  Then  in  rapid 
succession  came  the  following:  boiler  house,  library,  elec- 
trical laboratory,  Mechanic  Arts  Hall,  Memorial  Hall  an- 
nex, Brace  laboratory,  Administration  Hall,  Museum,  the 
Temple,  engineering  building,  law  college  building,  Bessey 
Hall,  Chemistry  Hall  and  many  minor  buildings,  and  new 
buildings  now  under  construction. 

The  farm  campus  of  320  acres  was  purchased  from 
Moses  Culver  and  his  wife  on  June  25,  1874,  as  the  original 
lands  located  nearer  the  main  campus  were  found  to  be 
unsuitable.  Until  1918  the  old  home  of  the  Culvers  was 
in  use  as  a  dwelling,  but  the  march  of  building-progress 
called  for  its  removal.  Many  of  the  beautiful  old  trees 
planted  by  Mr.  Culver  still  adorn  the  farm  campus.  In  the 
early  days  the  farm  was  separated  from  the  town  by  an 
almost  unbroken  stretch  of  prairie,  so  that  it  was  regarded 
as  being  at  a  great  distance.  Agricultural  college  students, 
living  at  the  farm,  rode  to  the  campus  in  a  wagon.  These 
students  were  supposed  to  work  for  their  board,  and  to 
absorb  agricultural  wisdom  while  they  worked.  A  cartoon 
in  the  first  edition  of  the  Sombrero  in  1884  represents  them 
as  engaging  in  mumble-ty-peg  behind  the  barn. 

The  development  at  the  University  farm  was  greatly 
retarded,  and  the  farm  campus  received  little  attention 
until  about  1899.  It  has  become  the  most  attractive  place 
in  the  city — which  reaches  out  to,  and  surrounds  it.  It  is 
connected  with  the  city  campus  by  an  eighteen-minute  car 
service  and  may  be  reached  over  paved  streets.  It  has 
buildings  and  improvements  to  the  value  of  over  half  a 
million  dollars.  Hundreds  of  students  attend  classes  at 
the  farm.  The  original  320  acres  have  long  been  inadequate 
for  the  purposes  of  the  college  and  school  of  agriculture  and 
the  experiment  station.  Considerable  additional  land  is 
rented,  and  some  additional  acres,  most  of  which  are  at 
some  distance  from  the  farm,  have  been  purchased.  The 
students  of  the  college  of  agriculture  pursue  most  of  their 


BUILDINGS  AND  GROUNDS  41 

subjects  at  the  farm  campus,  but  many  of  them  also  have 
classes  at  the  city  campus. 

Chancellor  Benton  must  be  regarded  as  a  prophet,  for 
he  said  in  his  first  Commencement  address  in  June,  1872: 
"In  view  of  what  may  be  developed  within  the  next  ten 
years,  with  new  and  commodious  buildings  for  law  and 
medical  schools,  and  with  a  building  for  engineering  and 
the  mechanic  arts,  I  have  sometimes  feared  that  our  plans 
have  not  been  sufficiently  enlarged,  and  especially  that  our 
grounds  may  become  too  contracted  for  our  growth." 

While  the  march  of  events  was  not  quite  as  rapid  as  the 
Chancellor's  prediction  suggested,  it  came  to  pass  that  even 
the  state  legislature  was  convinced  that  the  downtown 
campus  was  too  small.  A  growing  agitation  for  the  removal 
of  the  entire  institution  to  the  farm  campus  was  the  sub- 
ject of  much  fierce  debate  in  two  sessions  of  the  legislature. 
The  decision  in  the  matter  was  put  to  a  vote  of  the  people 
in  1915,  and  the  proposed  removal  was  defeated.  The  legis- 
lature of  1913  made  a  levy  of  three-fourths  of  a  mill  on 
the  grand  assessment  roll  of  the  state  for  campus  extension 
and  for  buildings  on  the  two  campuses.  This  levy  has  been 
made  for  the  past  six  years  and  has  resulted  in  the  addition 
of  more  than  six  blocks  to  the  city  campus,  and  in  the  erec- 
tion of  six  or  more  new  buildings.  One  of  the  large  resi- 
dences on  the  new  campus  has  recently  been  set  aside  as 
a  woman's  building,  to  be  used  for  social  purposes — a  wel- 
come recognition  of  the  needs  of  University  women.  An- 
other residence  was  converted  into  an  infirmary  as  a  mili- 
tary necessity  for  the  S.  A.  T.  C.  The  Temple  building  was 
erected  on  ground  immediately  adjacent  to  the  city  campus 
in  1906-7  with  money  given  by  John  D.  Rockefeller,  and 
by  citizens  of  Nebraska.  It  is  devoted  to  religious  and 
social  purposes. 

In  addition  to  the  city  and  farm  campuses,  the  Univer- 
sity has  a  medical  college  at  Omaha  with  a  well  located 
campus  and  splendid  new  buildings,  an  agricultural  school 
at  Curtis  in  Frontier  county,  and  experiment  sub-stations 
at  North  Platte,  Scottsbluff ,  and  Valentine. 


42  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

Envoi:  Old  U.  Hall — in  spite  of  your  Franco-Italian- 
Hoosier  architecture,  plus  the  "corduroy  effect,"  in  spite 
of  all  the  disadvantages  of  primitive  building  which  no 
amount  of  repairing  and  altering  can  entirely  mitigate,  the 
alumni  and  students,  1871-1919,  salute  you!  Every  brick, 
every  stone,  every  worn  step  and  threshold,  the  old  cracked 
bell,  the  red  roof,  the  useless  old  tower,  with  the  flag  of 
our  country  flying  against  the  incomparable  blueness  of 
Nebraska  sky — all  these  are  inseparable  from  our  intellect- 
ual and  spiritual  inheritance.  The  storied  past  speaks  to 
us  from  your  walls,  the  lingering  memories  of  youth's 
brightness  cluster  about  you ! 

EDNA  D.  BULLOCK. 


UNDERGRADUATE  LIFE  IN  THE  EARLY  EIGHTIES 

When  I  entered  the  University  in  1880,  the  preparatory 
school  was  still  in  existence  and  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
for  students  to  spend  six  years  on  the  campus.  My  parti- 
cipation in  undergraduate  life  lasted  until  1886.  At  the 
first  date,  the  official  registration  in  all  departments  was 
348.  Six  years  later,  the  Latin  school  having  been  sloughed 
off,  the  annual  enrollment  reached  381. 

I  saw  the  University  in  its  first  raw  stages.  While  it 
had  been  in  operation  eight  years  when  I  arrived,  the  facul- 
ty numbered  only  seven  or  eight,  and  the  one  red  brick 
building  in  the  center  of  the  prairie-grassed  campus  was 
so  much  too  large  for  the  needs  of  the  classes  that  parts  of 
the  third  floor  and  attic  were  still  used  as  a  men's  dormitory. 
My  introduction  to  student  life  was  effected  at  Mrs.  Swish- 
er's  boarding  house  just  north  of  the  campus,  where  twelve 
boys  were  well  cared  for  at  $3.50  and  $4.00  a  week.  This 
was  about  the  standard  cost  of  good  board  during  the 
six  years.  Any  number  of  students  cut  it  in  half  by  board- 
ing in  groups  or  by  "batching."  A  few  paid  a  little 
more.  In  my  day  Clem  Chase  and  Dan  Wheeler  were  wide- 


UNDERGRAD UATE  LIFE  43 

ly  advertised  as  gilded  youths  because  they  boarded  at  the 
Clifton  House  down  town  and  must  have  paid  as  much  as 
five  or  even  six  dollars. 

After  a  student  had  provided  for  his  basic  living,  had 
scraped  together  a  few  books,  and  had  turned  over  his 
matriculation  fee  of  five  dollars,  which  had  to  be  paid  only 
once,  he  did  not  feel  uncomfortable  if  he  had  nothing  left. 
Life  in  the  University  was  so  simple  and  poverty  was  so 
common  that  it  seemed  a  perfectly  normal  condition.  Social 
distractions  in  the  early  part  of  my  experience  were  found 
mostly  in  the  Friday  meetings  of  the  literary  societies;  in 
an  occasional  play  at  the  old  Centennial  Opera  House  and 
in  a  perfect  orgy  of  church  attendance  on  Sunday.  I  can 
name  student  after  student  who  went  to  two  preaching 
services,  two  Sunday  schools,  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  session,  and 
the  Red  Ribbon  club  every  Sunday,  from  September  till 
June.  The  young  people  of  the  little  city  were  bubbling 
over  with  social  gaiety  all  the  time,  but  aside  from  the 
small  "town  set",  the  students  had  no  time  for  frivolity. 
We  indeed  were  a  serious  bunch  of  youngsters.  We  studied 
mathematics,  the  classics,  history,  and  a  little  science,  and 
then  read  solid  magazine  articles  for  relaxation.  I  remem- 
ber that  I  cut  my  first  debating  teeth  over  an  article  by  a 
British  writer  who  undertook  to  show  that  morality  has 
no  scientific  basis.  At  Mrs.  Swisher's  and  later  at  Mrs. 
Park's  on  Q  street,  we  curried  civilization  up  one  side  and 
down  another  at  the  dinner  table  every  day,  and  then  gave 
it  a  few  extra  wipes  on  Sunday.  Society  was  so  simple  that 
George  McLane,  who  received  fifty  dollars  a  month  for  jani- 
toring  the  University  building,  was  treated  as  an  equal  by 
the  professors  and  as  a  little  more  than  equal  by  the  stu- 
dents. He  had  more  money  than  the  rest  of  us  and  wore  bet- 
ter clothes,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  making  himself  round 
shouldered  carrying  hods  of  coal  to  fill  the  base  burners 
that  stood  in  each  recitation  room  did  not  interfere  at  all 
with  his  social  eligibility. 

Athletics  had  not  appeared  on  the  campus  in  the  early 
eighties.  The  only  all-university  interest  was  the  college 
paper,  The  Hesperian  Student,  which  was  the  center  of 


44  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

many  a  brilliant  contest.  Outside  of  that,  we  devoted  our 
time  to  our  studies,  to  any  outside  work  that  we  may  have 
had,  and  to  the  interests  of  the  literary  societies,  with  an 
intensity  of  concentration  that  I  am  sure  would  make  a 
present-day  professor's  eyes  stand  out  in  amazement.  We 
were  everlastingly  discussing  questions  like  the  tariff,  the 
Nicaraguan  canal  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  When 
the  suffrage  question  came  to  a  vote  in  1882,  we  lined  up 
on  opposite  sides  and  not  only  said  everything  that  had 
been  put  forward  on  the  question,  but  after  the  amendment 
was  beaten  got  up  a  respectable  riot  when  the  antis  started 
to  bury  a  coffin  said  to  contain  the  remains  of  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  only  to  lose  it  to  the  beefier  suff s.  That  near  riot 
was  on  the  whole  a  very  satisfactory  affair.  We  had  the 
band  out,  and  made  a  big  fire  on  the  dirt  road  at  Eleventh 
and  0  streets  and  rowed  around  so  much  like  real  students 
that  we  all  felt  very  much  encouraged  about  our  rising  col- 
lege spirit.  If  we  could  only  get  a  football  team  and  some 
fraternities  started  we  might  at  last  put  the  University 
on  the  map ! 

The  elective  system  had  not  been  established  in  1880. 
One  could  not  hop  from  course  to  course  or  from  class  to 
class.  As  a  freshman,  I  recited  at  9 : 00  o'clock  every  morn- 
ing except  Saturday  in  mathematics,  at  10 :00  in  history  and 
at  11 :00  in  languages.  No  afternoon  classes  were  scheduled. 
With  three  hours  of  recitation,  we  were  expected  to  give 
six  hours  in  preparation.  That  meant  nine  hours  of  steady 
work  every  day  for  five  days  each  week.  Usually  the  study- 
ing was  done  at  specified  hours.  The  result  was  that  stu- 
dents systematized  their  work  in  a  way  that  is  not  possible 
in  the  modern  hit  or  miss  elective  system.  This  orderly 
arrangement  of  time  made  it  possible  to  do  the  outside 
work  that  was  regularly  done  among  the  more  prominent 
students.  A  man  who  did  not  have  a  horse  to  curry  or  a 
church  to  sweep  out,  or  a  newspaper  route  to  carry,  felt 
that  he  could  take  an  extra  study  or  two  and  thus  shorten 
up  his  course  and  perhaps  spend  a  term  now  and  then  in 
teaching  school,  in  order  to  acquire  a  little  ready  cash. 


UNDERGRAD UATE  LIFE  45 

A  glance  at  my  old  student  scrap  book  shows  that  a 
steady  development  took  place  during  the  entire  six  years, 
but  that  the  University  was  still  a  small  and  provincial 
and  old  fashioned  college  at  the  end  of  this  period.  Public 
affairs  consisted  almost  exclusively  of  literary  society  rreet- 
ings,  oratorical  and  debating  contests  and  commencement 
exercises  and  "exhibitions."  Two  or  three  fraternities  were 
finally  established,  leading  to  the  famous  fight  which  cul- 
minated in  the  fall  of  1884  in  the  action  denying  member- 
ship in  the  literary  societies  to  the  Greek  letter  brethren. 
In  the  forty  years  in  which  I  have  watched  the  University 
no  student  battle  was  fought  with  greater  bitterness  or 
with  more  public  spirit  or  ability  than  this  effort  to  stem 
the  tide  of  modernity  in  the  social  life  of  the  college.  It 
resulted  in  the  retirement  of  the  Greeks  from  the  Palladian 
and  Union  societies  and  their  organization  of  the  Philo- 
docean,  where  they  made  good  the  "barbarian"  charge  that 
fraternities  and  literary  societies  could  not  flourish  with 
an  identical  membership. 

For  a  few  years  after  this  battle  the  old  fashioned  socie- 
ties held  their  own.  During  this  era  the  state  was  growing 
fast.  Boys  with  spending  money  above  their  bare  necessi- 
ties were  no  longer  rare  on  the  campus.  We  managed  to 
organize  a  baseball  team,  to  acquire  a  college  yell,  to  take 
on  the  elective  system  of  studies,  and  to  start  a  second 
building,  the  old  chemical  laboratory.  While  everything  in 
the  state  had  a  forward  look  in  those  years,  the  change  to 
modern  state  university  conditions  did  not  begin  to  come 
in  earnest  until  the  close  of  the  decade.  In  niy  days  we 
were  still  poor  but  honest.  Our  clothes  may  have  been 
patched  but  they  were  scrupulously  clean.  We  prided  our- 
selves on  having  true  hearts,  even  if  our  manners  must 
have  been  frightfully  crude.  The  number  of  successful 
marriages  growing  out  of  the  simple  social  customs  of  the 
early  times  is  worthy  of  remark.  The  "slate"  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  this  condition.  In  each  literary 
society  a  list  of  the  young  lady  members  was  made  out 
weekly  and  every  man  was  given  an  opportunity  to  sign  his 
initials  after  the  one  of  his  choice.  This  "scratching  of 


46  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

the  slate"  not  only  insured  the  young  ladies  regular  escorts 
but  broke  the  youths  at  an  early  period  to  the  systematic 
attendance  upon  the  fair  sex  that  naturally  leads  to  life- 
long constancy.  No  formal  balls  were  held  by  the  students 
at  this  time  and  only  a  little  semi-clandestine  dancing  was 
indulged  in  at  class  meetings  and  other  affairs  held  in 
private  houses.  Romantic  talk  was  stimulated  by  the  moon- 
light, of  course,  and  yet  as  the  couples  moved  to  and  from 
the  campus  for  classes  and  for  the  society  meetings,  an  im- 
mense amount  of  converse  on  deep  and  high  and  earnest 
themes  was  common.  I  cannot  recall  one  scandal  or  the 
suggestion  of  a  scandal  in  the  six  years.  The  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  pioneers,  some  of  them  fresh  from  the 
sod  houses  on  the  homesteads,  were  catching  their  first 
glimpses  of  the  glories  of  the  ancient  and  the  modern  world. 
It  was  an  enchanting  and  inspiring  time.  There  wasn't  a 
foot  of  pavement  in  two  hundred  miles  and  the  automobile 
was  not  even  a  dream.  But  the  old  red  brick  main  building 
was  as  beautiful  as  the  Parthenon,  and  0  street,  though 
built  of  wood  and  sun-dried  bricks,  could  not  have  been 
surpassed  in  attractiveness  by  the  marble  palaces  of  Rome. 
No  college  can  be  too  young  to  be  infected  by  student 
mischief  and  lawlessness.  It  began  here  in  the  revolt 
against  military  drill  and  in  The  Hesperian  Student  type- 
stealing  riots  for  several  years  before  and  after  1880. 
These  were  political  affairs,  undertaken  with  solemn  and 
deadly  earnestness.  This  cannot  be  said  of  the  countless 
orthodox  student  escapades  that  marked  the  whole  period, 
most  of  them  silly,  but  quite  devoid  of  malice.  It  was  in 
the  interests  of  the  college  paper  that  we  collected  a  fee 
at  the  door  of  the  chapel  one  memorable  night  and  then  slid 
down  a  rope  and  decamped,  leaving  an  expectant  audience 
to  fry  in  its  own  indignation.  The  sort  of  cameraderie 
existing  between  students  and  faculty  was  shown  by  the 
fact  that  Chancellor  Manatt  received  a  hint  not  to  be  pres- 
ent while  Professor  L.  A.  Sherman,  the  ambassador  in  the 
business,  came  early  to  enjoy  the  anger  of  the  audience,  and 
Professor  Nicholson,  also  in  the  secret,  did  his  laughing 
outside  as  the  members  of  the  troupe  swarmed  down  the 


UNDERGRADUATE  LIFE  47 

rope  and  oozed  away.  In  the  meantime  the  orchestra  faith- 
fully continued  to  grind  out  "Many  Are  the  Friends  Who 
Are  Waiting  Tonight"  until  it  was  discovered  that  the 
stage  was  empty.  Happy  days,  happy  days!  They  didn't 
catch  the  actors  that  night  and  in  a  day  or  two  it  was  safe 
to  reappear  on  the  campus. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  what  the  boys  looked  forward 
to  after  leaving  the  University  in  the  early  eighties — pro- 
fessional life,  mainly,  it  seems  to  me.  School  teaching  was 
still  considered  a  worthy  and  attractive  profession.  The 
very  pinnacle  of  success  was  a  college  professorship.  Law 
invited  many  of  the  more  vigorous,  and  a  few  of  the  boys 
were  thinking  of  medicine,  business,  newspapering,  or  the 
new  occupation  of  writing  life  insurance.  The  ministry 
called  a  few.  Nobody  wanted  to  go  back  to  the  farm.  Farm 
products  were  almost  given  away  at  this  time,  and  land  was 
so  cheap  and  abundant  that  even  in  eastern  Nebraska  it 
sold  at  from  five  to  ten  dollars  an  acre.  So  the  beginnings 
of  the  agricultural  college  were  held  in  contempt.  We  could 
not  see  that  Nebraska  was  to  become  a  great  horn  of  plenty, 
smothering  the  next  generation  with  wealth.  A  few  of  the 
boys  had  begun  to  pioneer  in  the  sciences,  but  we  had  no 
hint  of  the  great  prizes  that  were  to  come  to  men  like  Bion 
J.  Arnold,  who  was  then  breaking  into  engineering,  or  to 
J.  G.  White,  who  soon  went  from  an  instructorship  in  the 
University  to  an  electrical  business  encircling  the  globe. 
What  we  were  getting  then  seemed  the  most  beautiful  and 
the  most  desirable  things  in  the  world.  The  habits  of  in- 
dustry we  formed,  the  affections  we  nourished,"  the  visions 
we  enjoyed,  and  the  memories  we  cherish,  make  the  pioneers 
of  the  early  eighties  refuse  to  be  pitied  by  students  who 
enjoy  the  splendid  facilities  of  the  University  at  the  close 
of  the  first  half  century  of  its  history. 

WILL  OWEN  JONES. 


48  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  LIBRARY 

The  statute  passed  by  the  Nebraska  legislature  February 
15,  1869,  which  provided  for  the  founding  of  the  University 
of  Nebraska,  contained  a  clause  providing  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  library,  through  the  appropriation  for  that  pur- 
pose of  certain  regularly  received  University  fees.  While 
the  amount  in  the  beginning  was  small  it  was  constant,  and 
growing  with  the  growth  of  the  school  it  has  been  the  chief 
source  of  library  income,  though  for  many  years  added  ap- 
propriations from  the  general  University  funds  have  been 
made  by  the  regents. 

The  successive  catalogs  of  the  University  refer  to  the 
carefully  selected  collection  of  books  which  constitute  the 
library,  and  show  its  growth.  In  1878  there  were  2,000 
volumes,  in  1882,  4,000,  in  1886,  7,000,  and  by  1890,  12,000 
volumes.  The  growth  from  this  time  onward  has  been  in- 
creasingly rapid.  By  1901,  50,000  volumes  were  recorded, 
in  1907,  75,000,  and  the  accessioning  of  the  100,000th  book 
in  1912  was  made  a  ceremony.  Since  then  the  growth  has 
averaged  over  6,000  volumes  a  year,  so  that  at  the  end  of 
1918,  the  library  numbers  140,000  volumes. 

The  original  small  library  was  housed  first  in  one  room, 
then  in  two,  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  second  floor  of 
University  Hall.  In  1888  it  was  moved  to  the  first  floor  of 
the  north  wing  of  the  same  building,  the  rooms  now  occu- 
pied by  the  department  of  rhetoric.  In  the  fall  of  1895  the 
library  moved  into  its  present  location,  the  second  floor  of 
the  then  new  library  building.  It  had  been  planned  that 
the  remainder  of  this  building  should  be  turned  over  to  the 
library  as  it  was  needed,  but  there  has  been  absolutely  no 
expansion  of  space  for  library  use  since  that  time.  In 
fact  the  space  for  readers  has  been  much  decreased,  as  the 
tables  which  were  originally  placed  in  the  alcoves  in  the 
book  room  had  to  be  withdrawn  in  order  to  make  space  for 
the  new  stacks  demanded  by  the  increasing  number  of  books. 
For  several  years  students  have  constantly  been  turned 
away  from  the  reading  room  by  lack  of  space  to  seat  them 


THE  LIBRARY  49 

and  the  last  possible  addition  has  been  made  to  the  stacks. 
It  is  frequently  necessary  to  shift  many  shelves  of  books 
in  order  to  place  a  few  newly-acquired  volumes,  and  tem- 
porary shelving  outside  of  the  building  is  already  being 
resorted  to. 

The  administration  of  the  library  divides  itself  into  two 
distinct  periods,  that  preceding  and  that  following  1892. 
In  the  early  days,  the  direction  and  management  of  the 
library  was  in  the  hands  of  a  library  committee  whose  chair- 
man performed  to  some  extent  the  duties  of  a  librarian. 
For  the  first  ten  years  no  regular  hours  of  opening  were 
observed  and  very  little  use  of  the  library  was  made  by 
students.  In  the  fall  of  1878,  Dr.  George  E.  Howard  re- 
turned to  the  University  as  an  instructor.  The  professor 
who  was  chairman  of  the  library  committee  was  absent  on 
leave  and  Dr.  Howard  was  asked  to  assume  some  of  his 
duties,  among  them  to  take  charge  of  the  library.  He  im- 
mediately opened  the  library  from  two  to  six  each  after- 
noon. This  was  very  popular  with  the  students.  January 
1,  1879,  Dr.  Howard  was  made  instructor  in  English  and 
history  and  librarian,  with  full  power  of  administration 
over  the  library,  though  there  was  still  a  library  committee 
of  the  faculty.  Later  the  power  was  again  vested  in  the 
committee,  but  with  Dr.  Howard  always  a  member,  fre- 
quently as  chairman.  From  1888  to  1891  Miss  Ellen  Smith 
was  "Registrar  and  Custodian  of  the  Library,"  and  for 
1891-92  Professor  George  MacMillan  was  "Custodian  of 
the  Library."  During  this  early  period  all  members  of  the 
faculty  carried  keys  to  the  library,  and  Dr.  Bessey  has  told, 
in  the  Cornhusker  for  1908,  how  it  was  impossible  to  secure 
their  consent  to  give  up  this  privilege  until  Chancellor  Can- 
field,  after  presenting  the  matter  in  faculty  meeting  and 
setting  forth  the  reasons  why  all  keys  should  be  turned  in, 
added  the  information  that  the  lock  on  the  library  door 
had  just  been  changed  by  the  University  carpenter  so  the 
keys  would  be  of  no  further  use;  and  as  Dr.  Bessey  adds, 
"The  keys  were  turned  in."  There  was  no  catalog  of  the 
library  during  these  years  except  a  sort  of  accessions  list 
of  the  books  as  they  were  received,  and  such  classification 


50  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

of  the  books  as  had  been  attempted  was  exceedingly  ele- 
mentary. 

In  1892  Chancellor  Canfield  realizing  the  part  which  the 
library  should  be  taking  in  the  development  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  the  importance  of  having  it  carefully  organized 
before  its  increasing  growth  should  make  reorganization 
more  difficult,  appointed  as  librarian  Miss  Mary  L.  Jones, 
of  the  class  of  1885,  who  had  just  completed  the  two-years' 
course  of  training  in  the  New  York  State  Library  School. 
Miss  Jones  found  the  task  before  her  no  light  one.  The 
library  was  already  so  large  that  a  classification  of  the 
books  by  subject  and  by  some  form  of  a  catalog  was  im- 
perative if  the  constantly  increasing  use  of  the  library  was 
to  be  made  satisfactory.  During  the  summer  of  1892  Miss 
Jones  reclassified  roughly  by  the  Dewey  decimal  system  a 
large  proportion  of  the  books,  rearranged  them  on  the 
shelves,  and  made  plans  for  the  card  catalog  which  was 
to  follow.  During  the  five  years  that  she  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  library  she  personally  classified  and  supervised 
the  cataloging  of  nearly  all  the  books  she  found  here  upon 
her  arrival,  in  addition  to  all  those  purchased  during  the 
period.  She  gave  several  short  courses  in  cataloging  in 
order  to  train  assistants  who  could  help  in  carrying  on  the 
work,  and  she  started  the  organization  of  the  library  upon 
the  lines  which  it  has  since  followed. 

The  University  has  been  very  fortunate  in  its  librarians. 
Miss  Jones  has  been  followed  by  three  other  graduates  of 
the  New  York  State  Library  School  who,  except  for  short 
intervals,  have  been  continuously  in  charge  of  the  library. 
Mr.  J.  I.  Wyer,  Jr.,  and  Dr.  Walter  K.  Jewett,  each  held 
the  position  of  librarian  for  approximately  seven  years, 
and  Mr.  Malcolm  G.  Wyer  has  been  librarian  since  1913. 
Each  has  brought  to  the  library  special  gifts  of  organiza- 
tion, and  special  knowledge  of  books  that,  with  the  con- 
tinuity of  standards  provided  by  the  New  York  State 
Library  School  as  a  background,  has  meant  much  in  its 
development.  Miss  Jones  has  since  been  librarian  of  the 
Los  Angeles  public  library,  of  the  Bryn  Mawr  College  li- 
brary, and  is  now  assistant  librarian  of  the  Los  Angeles 


THE  LIBRARY  51 

county  library.  Mr.  J.  I.  Wyer,  Jr.,  is  director  of  the  New 
York  State  Library.  Dr.  Jewett's  term  of  service  was  ended 
by  his  death  in  1913. 

From  the  first  the  University  library  has  been  primarily 
a  reference  library.  Most  of  the  books  have  been  bought 
on  the  recommendation  of  professors  who  were  interested 
in  securing  the  best  material  in  print  in  their  own  fields. 
Occasionally  this  has  resulted  in  an  extreme  specialization, 
the  forming  of  a  valuable  collection  of  books  on  a  single 
line  while  the  library  might  be  comparatively  weak  in  the 
other  lines  and  in  the  more  general  works  of  the  same  sub- 
ject. But  these  special  collections  are  so  extremely  valu- 
able, and  particularly  for  research  work,  that  it  has  been 
felt  to  be  the  wisest  thing,  often,  to  allow  the  library  to 
develop  somewhat  unevenly  in  places,  trusting  that  in  the 
future  the  weaker  places  may  be  strengthened.  Generally, 
with  several  professors  in  a  department  working  on  various 
subdivisions  of  their  subject,  the  library  receives  requests 
for  most  books  of  value  in  the  different  lines  of  work  and 
so  is  building  a  well-rounded  collection  of  the  best  material 
on  many  subjects.  To  the  librarian  belongs  the  p'art  of 
choosing  the  books  that  do  not  fall  to  any  department  and 
the  general  works  that  are  used  by  all.  Often,  too,  as  book 
catalogs  and  announcements  are  received  by  the  librarian, 
future  requests  from  professors  are  foreseen  and  books  are 
ordered  to  be  ready  when  wanted. 

While  the  library  is,  as  has  been  said,  primarily  a  refer- 
ence library  built  up  for  the  use  of  the  faculty  and  stu- 
dents of  the  University  in  their  university  work,  this  state- 
ment must  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  there  are  no  books  to 
interest  the  general  reader  or  to  tempt  him  to  browse 
among  the  shelves.  Most  of  the  best  literature  of  all  the 
world  in  all  ages  is  here,  poetry,  drama,  fiction  and  essays ; 
large  collections  of  biography  and  history;  travel  and  ex- 
ploration ;  books  on  all  the  sociologic  and  economic  problems 
of  the  day.  Students  are  prone  to  confine  their  college 
reading  to  the  work  assigned  by  their  professors,  and  pro- 
fessors often  find  little  time  for  books  not  on  their  own 
particular  subject,  so  that  a  certain  type  of  excursive  read- 


52  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

ing  in  the  University  library  has  been  .largely  missing, 
greatly  to  the  regret  of  those  who  know  its  wealth  of  books. 
On  the  other  hand  the  use  of  the  library  as  a  working 
and  reference  collection  of  books  has  always  been  most 
gratifying.  Many  departments  make  a  real  laboratory  of 
the  library.  The  main  part  of  the  students'  work  in  many 
courses  in  history,  philosophy,  education,  literature,  econ- 
omics and  sociology  is  done  in  the  library.  In  the  scientific 
and  technical  courses  large  use  is  also  made  of  the  litera- 
ture of  these  subjects  as  it  is  found  in  the  collections  of 
books  which,  in  most  cases,  are  placed  in  departmental 
libraries.  The  engineering  and  mathematics  books,  in  the 
Mechanic  Arts  library,  the  books  on  agriculture  and  all  its 
allied  subjects,  with  those  on  home  economics,  in  the  Uni- 
versity Farm  library,  and  the  smaller  collections  on  botany 
and  zoology,  shelved  together  in  Bessey  Hall,  on  chemistry, 
physics,  and  entomology  in  small  departmental  libraries, 
are  all  extremely  valuable  and  most  of  them  are  constantly 
used.  The  Law  library  is  also  separate,  occupying  the 
whole  of  the  third  floor  of  the  law  building,  and  a  valuable 
medical  collection  is  being  formed  at  the  College  of  Medi- 
cine in  Omaha.  In  addition  to  assigned  and  required  read- 
ing, there  is  a  very  large  use  of  the  library  by  students  in 
preparing  papers  and  debates  and  in  looking  up  all  sorts 
of  subjects  of  momentary  or  permanent  interest,  while 
from  outside  the  University  come  many  requests  for  in- 
formation and  assistance. 

Probably  few  people  even  in  the  University  itself  realize 
the  worth  of  this  library  to  the  University  and  to  the  state. 
It  is  the  largest  and  by  far  the  most  valuable  collection  of 
books  in  Nebraska.  The  books  have  been  most  carefully 
chosen  for  their  value  as  a  working  collection,  and  there 
are  few  subjects  upon  which  it  does  not  contain  good  ma- 
terial. The  library  serves  the  whole  University  as  does  no 
other  single  department,  coming  in  touch  at  some  point 
with  every  student  and  every  professor.  Much  more  of 
service  that  it  would  like  to  give,  must  be  withheld  in  its 
present  inadequate  quarters  and  with  its  small  staff  of 


THE  MILITARY  DEPARTMENT  53 

workers,  but  the  foundations  have  been  well  laid,  the  growth 
has  been  carefully  guided,  and  when  the  opportunity  comes, 
the  larger  service  will  be  given. 

NELLIE  JANE  COMPTON. 


THE  MILITARY  DEPARTMENT 

The  outstanding  feature  in  the  history  of  the  Military 
Department  of  the  University  is,  it  need  hardly  be  said, 
General  Pershing's  four  years'  service  as  commanding  of- 
ficer of  the  battalion.    The  personality  of  the  young  lieuten- 
ant, then  fresh  from  the  Indian  wars,  found  immediate 
expression  in  a  stricter  discipline  and  an  infectious  profes- 
sional enthusiasm.    It  cannot  be  averred  that  discipline  was 
then,  nor  is  it  now,  a  conspicuous  quality  of  Nebraska  life. 
Lieutenant  Dudley,  our  first  commandant,  had  provoked  a 
downright  mutiny  by  an  "arbitrary  and  unreasonable"  in- 
sistence upon  the  wearing  of  uniforms  at  drill!    Upon  the 
advent  of  Lieutenant  Pershing  in  1891,  the  young  men  found 
that  the  nameless  tyrannies  of  his  predecessors,  Lieutenants 
Dudley,  Webster,   Townley  and  Griffith,  were  but  faint 
adumbrations  of  what  they  were  now  facing.     But  there 
was  no  mutiny.    On  the  contrary,  it  was  the  beginning  of 
whatever  spontaneous  enthusiasm  the  students  have  since 
shown  in  military  studies.    In  1893,  Pershing  received  his 
bachelor's  degree  from  the  University  in  the  College  of 
Law.    In  the  same  year,  the  Pershing  Rifles  were  organized 
for  voluntary  additional  drill.    They  are  still  in  existence, 
destined  apparently  to  remain  a  permanent  part  of  our 
military  organization.    It  may  be  said  in  general  that  this 
period  of  Pershing's  life,  with  its  profound  impression  upon 
the  student  body,  foreshadowed  upon  a  small  stage  his  later 
achievements  in  the  great  field  of  the  world's  history.    His 
name  became  a  legendary  one  among  successive  generations 
of  undergraduates,  whose  memories  are  usually  so  short. 
No  one  has  ever  been  heard  to  express  surprise  at  the  prom- 


54  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

inence  of  his  later  career.  The  continued  residence  of  his 
family  in  Lincoln  has  tended  to  preserve  the  affection  of 
the  community  for  him  and  pride  in  his  growing  fame  to 
a  greater  degree  than  is  usually  possible  in  so  migratory  a 
profession  as  that  of  arms. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  mention  all  the  cadet  officers 
of  Pershing's  time  who  have  since  attained  distinction,  and 
it  would  be  invidious  to  attempt  a  selected  list ;  but  it  may 
perhaps  be  permitted  to  record  in  meagre  chronicle  what 
has  recently  happened  to  a  very  few  who  are  for  the  mo- 
ment in  the  public  eye. 

Col.  W.  H.  Hayward,  '97,  in  command  of  the  15th  N.  Y. 
Infantry  (coloured),  has  received  the  American  D.  S.  0., 
the  French  croix  de  guerre,  and  has  been  nominated  a 
Chevalier  de  la  Legion  d'Honneur.  His  regiment  was  under 
fire  for  one  hundred  ninety-one  days  and  suffered  possibly 
more  casualties  than  any  other  American  regiment.  He 
himself  was  wounded  in  action.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
of  his  officers  and  men  were  awarded  the  croix  de  guerre 
and  his  regimental  colours  were  similarly  decorated,  being 
one  of  six  American  regimental  colours  thus  honoured. 
Professor  W.  L.  Westermann,  '94,  is  in  Paris  with  the 
President's  party  as  member  of  Col.  House's  Inquiry  and 
expert  adviser  on  Turkey.  General  Pershing  recognized 
him  after  twenty-three  years.  Lieutenant  Colonel  L.  V. 
Patch,  '98,  recently  commanded  an  American  regiment  in 
action  and  in  addition  two  batteries  of  heavy  French  artil- 
lery. Lest  we  be  accused  of  favoritism  in  selecting  these 
few  from  among  so  many,  let  us  hasten  to  explain  that  they 
are  merely  specimens,  as  it  were,  of  a  greater  glory !  Even 
so  the  worthy  citizens  of  Worms  said  deprecatingly  when 
the  old  Kaiser  praised  their  proffered  wines,  "We  have  bet- 
ter ones." 

While  General  Pershing's  name  is  the  most  famous  one 
to  be  connected  with  the  Department,  it  is  but  one  of  many 
to  be  recalled  with  pride.  Captain  Guilfoyle,  his  successor, 
will  long  be  remembered  for  a  delightful  retort,  which  in 
its  combination  of  chivalry  and  defiance  one  likes  to  think 
might  have  fallen  from  the  lips  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in 


THE  MILITARY  DEPARTMENT  55 

more  spacious  times.  Challenged  angrily  as  to  whether  he 
had  really  uttered  a  derogatory  remark  as  reported  by  a 
lady,  though  he  could  not  for  the  moment  fully  recall  the 
incident,  Captain  Guilfoyle  replied  quickly,  "Whatever  the 
lady  said  I  said  I  said."  The  bewildered  challenger  retired 
in  confusion  to  think  it  over,  and  never  returned. 

The  story  of  Col.  Stotsenburg,  who  came  in  1897,  is 
more  tragic.  Before  his  first  year  had  passed,  the  Spanish 
War  was  upon  us  and  he  was  in  command  of  the  First 
Nebraska  regiment.  Then  occurred  a  shabby  incident  over 
which  it  were  better  to  allow  ever  kind  Oblivion  to  cast 
her  veil,  were  it  not  that  it  involves  a  lesson  of  too  great 
value  to  be  lost.  Loud  and  shrill  outcries  were  raised  by 
the  political  and  bolshevik  element  in  the  regiment  at  Col. 
Stotsenburg's  exacting  standards  of  discipline.  Outrage- 
ous letters  of  complaint  were  written  to  the  newspapers — 
in  war  time !  There  were  mutterings  in  the  legislature 
leading  to  an  investigation  from  Washington  and  to  Col. 
Stotsenburg's  complete  exoneration.  Meanwhile  the  regi- 
ment went  into  action  in  the  Philippines.  The  value  of 
discipline  at  once  became  apparent.  Complaints  suddenly 
ceased,  and  the  Colonel  found  himself  transformed  into  a 
hero  overnight.  In  1899,  he  fell  in  action  at  the  head  of 
his  regiment,  leaving  a  name  precious  in  the  military  annals 
not  only  of  the  University  but  of  the  State. 

Few  of  our  commandants  are  remembered  with  deeper 
affection  than  Captain  (afterwards  Major)  Workizer,  who 
was  in  charge  from  1905  to  1909.  He  had  an  almost  boyish 
directness  and  alertness  of  manner,  and  a  capacity  for  en- 
joyment that  were  most  winning.  The  Workizer  Rifles  at 
the  Farm  are  a  lasting  testimony  to  his  activity  and  popu- 
larity. After  leaving  the  University  he  was  invalided  for 
injuries  received  in  the  performance  of  his  duty.  He  was 
utterly  devoid  of  fear.  At  one  time  alone  he  entered  the 
hold  of  a  Pacific  transport  to  quell  a  mutiny  among  the 
prisoners  under  his  charge,  and  received  a  blow  from  which 
he  never  fully  recovered.  He  died  in  1918,  partly  of  his 
injuries  and  partly  of  a  broken  heart  at  not  being  able  to 
serve  his  country  in  the  great  crisis  for  which  he  had  spent 


56  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

his  heart  in  preparing.  Sans  peur  et  sans  reproche,  a  more 
fearless  and  gallant  officer  never  lived,  barring  none.  What 
is  West  Point's  secret,  one  is  impelled  to  ask,  in  producing 
such  men  ?  Does  it  produce  them,  or  does  it  merely  attract 
them? 

It  is  curious  now  to  recall  that  almost  exactly  two  years 
ago,  in  the  days  immediately  preceding  our  plunge  into  the 
maelstrom  of  the  Great  War,  there  was  a  formidable  move- 
ment in  the  legislature  to  abolish  military  instruction  in 
the  University.  So  belligerent  and  influential  were  the 
pacifists  of  that  day  that  the  outcome  of  the  agitation  could 
not  be  foretold.  Notwithstanding  the  loss  of  Federal 
revenue  the  abolition  would  have  involved,  they  seemed  to 
have  an  even  chance. 

The  agitation  was  short-lived,  but  it  was  not  without 
disagreeable  echoes  on  the  campus.  Undisciplined  youths, 
many  of  whom  doubtless  have  since  died  gloriously  for 
their  country,  conceived  it  to  be  their  duty  to  revile  the 
Military  Department  and  to  undermine  its  morale.  It  was 
a  bad  quarter  of  an  hour  for  Captain  Parker,  whose  three 
years'  period  of  service  was  approaching  its  close.  Never 
were  trials  less  deserved.  In  truth,  they  did  not  last  long, 
nor  would  they  be  worth  recording  were  it  not  to  chronicle 
a  moral  victory  of  discipline  and  self-control  which,  to  those 
who  care  for  such  things,  will  remain  undimmed  even  in 
the  presence  of  imperishable  deeds  on  the  fields  of  France. 
Not  once  was  Captain  Parker  betrayed  by  impatience  under 
extreme  provocation  into  saying  or  doing  anything  un- 
worthy of  his  profession  which  he  would  afterwards  have 
wished  unsaid  or  undone.  He  was  the  soul  of  courtesy  and 
of  honor.  He  set  the  men  an  example  of  single-minded 
devotion  to  duty  that  was  much  appreciated,  not  the  least 
because  it  was  wholly  unconscious  and  unintended.  In  1817, 
Captain  Parker  was  transferred  to  Fort  Snelling,  and  he 
is  now  at  Stanford  University.  His  successor  was  Col. 
Roberts,  who  has  since  died. 

The  roll  of  West  Pointers  who  have  been  among  us  is 
an  imperishable  one.  They  have  left  behind  the  delightful 
memories,  and,  let  us  hope,  something  of  the  best  traditions 


ORGANIZATIONS  57 

of  the  Service.  We  have  not  dishonored  them  in  the  Great 
War.  Of  the  former  members  of  the  battalion  who  have 
distinguished  themselves,  I  am  not  permitted  to  speak. 
Their  deeds  will  be  found  in  another  article.  But  our  list 
of  commandants  would  be  incomplete  without  the  names 
of  Captain  Frank  Eager,  '93,  afterwards  Colonel  of  the 
First  Nebraska  Regiment,  U.  S.  Volunteers,  and  Captain 
Charles  Weeks,  '98,  now  Colonel  and  chief  of  the  historical 
section  of  the  General  Staff.  And  lastly,  we  cannot  forbear 
a  tribute  to  Major  (Dean)  0.  V.  P.  Stout,  who  has  a  special 
place  in  our  affections.  He  has  shown  that  his  long  interest 
in  the  battalion  was  not  a  mere  academic  one,  and  that  the 
students'  confidence  in  him  for  many  years  was  not  mis- 
placed. 

GUERNSEY  JONES. 


ORGANIZATIONS 

In  the  early  days  of  the  University,  the  "literary  socie- 
ties" were  the  chief  centers  of  life  outside  the  class-rooms. 
Their  weekly  meetings  on  Friday  night  had  no  rival  save 
a  rare  "show"  at  the  old  Centennial  theatre,  or  later  at  the 
old  Oliver.  The  manifold  attractions  which  now  compete 
for  the  presence  of  the  student  on  a  Friday  evening  were 
non-existent.  The  literary  societies  have  never  lost  their 
vitality  and  they  still  fill  definite  niches  in  college  life;  but 
neither  they  nor  any  other  organizations  of  a  single  type 
could  again  have  anything  like  their  old-time  monopoly. 

The  earliest  literary  society  to  be  organized  on  the 
campus  was  the  Palladian,  founded  in  the  autumn  of  1871, 
soon  after  the  University  opened.  Its  purpose,  in  the  quaint 
phraseology  of  the  preamble  of  its  first  constitution,  was 
"to  help  build  up  and  perfect  the  moral  and  intellectual 
capacities  and  in  like  manner  the  social  qualities."  Only 
the  first  and  part  of  the  second  story  of  University  Hall 
were  in  use  for  a  time,  and  the  Palladians  held  their  meet- 


58  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

ings  on  the  first  floor.  The  second  literary  society  to  be 
established  was  the  Adelphian,  which  was  formed  in  1873 
by  the  secession  of  some  of  its  members  from  the  Palladian. 
A  moving  spirit  in  the  secession  was  George  E.  Howard, 
now  one  of  the  University's  most  honored  professors,  and 
a  recent  president  of  the  American  Sociological  Associa- 
tion. It  is  of  interest  to  recall  that  Professor  Howard  was 
not  only  a  political  and  literary  leader  of  his  period  but 
also  a  leading  athlete,  holding  various  college  records  in  the 
types  of  athletics  then  in  vogue.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
quarter-centennial  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  Uni- 
versity, Professor  Howard  was  called  back  from  Leland 
Stanford  university,  where  he  was  professor  of  history,  to 
deliver  the  Charter  Day  address. 

Both  the  Palladian  and  the  Adelphian  societies  were  at 
first  men's  organizations,  but  in  the  autumn  of  1873  the 
Adelphians  admitted  women  to  membership,  and  the  Palla- 
dians  followed  their  example  during  the  next  term,  with 
"consequent  gain,"  says  their  chronicler,  "in  decorum  and 
in  spirit."  The  meetings  of  the  Adelphians  were  held  on 
the  third  floor,  which  was  to  be  for  so  many  years,  until 
the  erection  of  the  Temple  building,  the  home  of  the  literary 
societies.  The  Adelphian  society  went  out  of  existence  in 
1876.  In  that  year  it  was  reorganized,  joined  by  a  second 
element  seceding  from  the  Palladian,  under  the  name  of 
the  "University  Union."  Among  those  who  helped  to  draft 
the  charter  organizing  the  new  society  was  Charles  E. 
Magoon,  Governor  of  the  Canal  Zone,  1905-1906,  and  Pro- 
visional Governor  of  Cuba,  1906-1909.  At  first  the  new 
society  restricted  its  membership  to  regular  college  stu- 
dents, excluding  students  of  the  "Prep"  (Preparatory) 
school.  The  eligible  members  of  the  Palladian  and  most 
members  of  the  Adelphian  made  up  its  first  membership. 
Since  few  students  attended  the  University  who  did  not  en- 
ter by  way  of  the  preparatory  school,  this  restriction  handi- 
capped the  new  society  and  was  soon  given  up.  It  became 
the  custom  to  buttonhole  new  students,  almost  as  soon  as 
they  entered  the  institution,  and  to  ask  them  to  join  one 
or  the  other  literary  society.  When  the  stage  was  reached 


ORGANIZATIONS  59 

where  both  societies  had  a  membership  roll  of  about  eighty, 
a  third  society,  with  a  membership  limitation  of  fifty,  the 
Delian,  was  launched,  in  the  autumn  of  1889.  The  opening 
sentences  of  its  constitution  ran:  "We,  students  of  the 
University  of  Nebraska,  believing  that  the  membership  of 
the  existing  literary  societies  is  too  large  for  the  best  liter- 
ary and  social  culture,  and  that  the  formation  of  a  new 
society  is  desirable,  do  hereby  organize  ourselves  into  a 
literary  society."  The  Palladian  and  the  Union  societies 
occupied  at  this  time  the  long  rooms,  since  remodeled,  at 
the  east  and  west  ends  respectively  of  the  third  floor  of 
University  Hall.  These  rooms  they  furnished  themselves, 
buying  carpets,  chairs,  curtains,  and  rugs,  from  society  dues 
and  from  voluntary  subscriptions.  The  new  Delian  society, 
since  no  room  for  its  sole  use  was  available  in  the  building, 
met  at  first  in  the  "music  room"  on  the  first  floor,  now 
used  by  the  department  of  elocution.  In  1890,  it  was  granted 
the  use  of  the  chapel  for  its  meetings,  in  those  days  a  large 
hall  on  the  north  wing  of  the  second  floor,  but  now  parti- 
tioned off  into  class-rooms  for  the  departments  of  rhetoric 
and  of  education.  Here  the  Delian  society  continued  to 
meet  until  it  went  out  of  existence  about  1905.  It  was  re- 
established in  1916-17,  or  rather  a  new  literary  society  was 
instituted,  adopting  the  same  name. 

The  programs  of  the  literary  societies  consisted  of 
varied  features.  Staple  were  the  "essay",  the  "oration", 
the  "recitation",  with  such  musical  numbers  as  were  avail- 
able interspersed,  and  the  program  closed  normally  with 
a  "debate."  Social  sessions  followed,  sometimes  varied  by 
the  serving  of  "light  refreshments",  such  as  doughnuts, 
apples,  popcorn,  or  more  rarely,  ice  cream ;  and  there  were 
promenades  through  the  long  corridors.  In  the  '80's  and 
'90's,  the  height  of  elegance  was  thought  to  be  attained 
when  the  more  prodigal  members  went  to  a  local  restaurant 
after  the  program  for  oysters.  The  recreation  of  dancing 
was  frowned  upon  in  those  days,  and  was  not  to  be  thought 
of  after  society  meetings.  Auxiliary  organizations  which 
played  conspicuous  roles  in  the  life  of  the  literary  societies 
were  the  P.  B.  D.  C.  (Palladian  Boys'  Debating  Club), 


60  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

founded  in  1882,  and  the  P.  G.  D.  C.  (Palladian  Girls'  De- 
bating Club),  founded  in  1884,  soon  followed  by  the  or- 
ganization of  similar  societies  by  the  Unions,  and  later  by 
the  Delians. 

The  old-time  literary  societies  gave  to  their  members 
valuable  experience.  Not  only  did  they  provide  social  di- 
version but  they  gave  to  the  students  almost  their  only 
training  in  conducting  public  meetings,  in  self-government, 
and  in  acquiring  self-possession  before  an  audience.  The 
training  which  they  afforded  in  practical  politics  assisted 
many  a  future  leader,  like  A.  W.  Field,  H.  H.  Wilson,  United 
States  Congressman  Ernest  Pollard,  Governor  George  Shel- 
don, Regent  E.  P.  Brown.  A  glance  at  old-time  topics 
for  debate  shows  that  abstract  questions  were  preferred  in 
the  first  period,  while  more  concrete  questions  gained  favor 
later.  According  to  Professor  H.  W.  Caldwell,  an  early 
question  debated  was  (the  original  spelling  retained)  :  "Re- 
solved That  the  Signs  of  the  Times  Indicate  that  We  Are 
Advancing  Moraly  and  Spiritualy."  This  type  of  question 
gave  way  later  to  subjects  like  "The  Negro  Question", 
"Foreign  Immigration",  "The  Advisability  of  Adopting  the 
Initiative  and  Referendum." 

A  classic  institution  of  the  early  literary  society  was 
the  "slate,"  without  which  some  young  women  might  have 
had  many  invitations  to  attend  meetings  while  others  might 
have  found  themselves  without  escorts.  The  official  "slate- 
bearer"  passed  about  a  small  book  listing  the  names  of  the 
girl  members,  to  be  duly  "scratched"  for  Friday  evening 
by  the  men  members.  Professor  H.  H.  Wilson  sometimes 
tells,  when  indulging  in  reminiscences,  of  a  new  recruit  who 
furnished  an  example  of  polite  correspondence.  Having 
been  urged  by  his  professor  of  rhetoric  to  write  with 
studied  exactness,  he  asked  a  woman  member  "for  the  pleas- 
ure of  her  company  to  and  from  the  Union  society  on  next 
Friday  evening."  Not  to  be  outdone  in  exactitude,  she  ac- 
cepted his  proffered  escort  "for  the  round  trip."  On  leap- 
years  the  women  members  had  their  turn  at  carrying  and 
"scratching"  the  slate  and  at  extending  invitations. 


ORGANIZATIONS  61 

As  the  number  of  students  increased  and  membership 
rolls  lengthened,  the  literary  societies  became  no  longer 
open  societies  but  restricted  more  and  more  their  elections 
to  membership.  They  now  afford  membership  to  but  a 
small  proportion  of  the  students.  Following  the  expansion 
of  the  University,  most  of  the  functions  of  the  literary 
societies  inevitably  were  taken  over  by  a  variety  of  new 
agencies.  On  the  literary  side,  the  old  need  for  the  societies 
was  replaced  by  class-room  instruction  in  public  speaking, 
in  debating,  in  essay-writing,  and  in  oral  expression,  while 
old-time  "oratory"  became  extinct.  The  more  serious  work 
of  the  societies  was  assumed  by  departmental  clubs,  lin- 
guistic, literary,  scientific,  or  technical. 

On  the  social  side,  to  meet  the  needs  of  those  wishing 
greater  social  opportunities,  or  special  affiliations,  arose 
the  system  of  Greek-letter  fraternities.  These  contrast  with 
the  literary  societies  in  that  their  membership  is  limited 
to  one  sex.  They  now  play  a  large  part  in  the  undergraduate 
activities  of  all  types.  The  first  men's  fraternity  to  announce 
its  entry  was  Sigma  Chi,  in  January,  1883,  followed  by  Phi 
Delta  Theta  in  December  of  the  same  year.  The  first 
women's  organization  to  enter  was  Kappa  Kappa  Gamma 
in  1884,  followed  by  Delta  Gamma  in  1887.  For  many  years 
after  the  introduction  of  the  first  fraternities  there  was 
strong  rivalry,  and  what  were  long  spoken  of  as  "frat- 
barb"  feuds  often  added  zest  to  undergraduate  politics.  At 
one  stage  members  of  fraternities  were  barred  from  mem- 
bership in  the  literary  societies,  and  "Greeks"  already  with- 
in the  societies  were  expelled.  This  rivalry  has  long  since 
ended,  as  Greek-letter  societies  of  all  types,  honorary  as 
well  as  social,  have  multiplied;  and  many  members  of  fra- 
ternities are  enrolled  at  the  present  time  as  members  of 
one,  at  least,  of  the  literary  societies.  The  two  types  of 
organizations  afford  different  types  of  experiences,  and 
while  the  function  of  the  literary  societies  is  now  mainly 
social,  their  "co-educational"  character  enables  them  to  fin 
a  special  and  permanent  place  in  undergraduate  life  and 
they  continue  to  flourish.  The  complaint  is  sometimes  heard 
that  there  are  too  many  student  organizations  on  the 


62  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

campus.  But  so  large  is  the  number  of  students  that  how- 
ever many  organizations  there  are — and  they  overlap  a 
good  deal  in  membership — there  are  still  large  tracts  of 
students  who  are  not  reached  and  hence  are  likely  to  miss 
that  executive  experience  and  that  training  in  working  with 
others  or  in  having  to  accommodate  themselves  to  others 
which  constitutes  the  most  desirable  thing  to  be  had,  along- 
side the  work  of  the  class-room,  in  undergraduate  life. 

Another  conspicuous  early  organization  was  the  "Sem 
Bot",  in  full,  the  Botanical  Seminar,  formed  by  enthusiastic 
students  under  Dr.  C.  E.  Bessey.  It  was  restricted  at  first 
to  men  members  but  afterward  admitted  women.  Promi- 
nent among  its  early  members  were  H.  C.  Peterson,  now  of 
Chicago,  Roscoe  Pound,  now  of  Harvard,  Herbert  Webber, 
Professor  at  the  University  of  California,  and  Albert  F. 
Woods,  President  of  the  Maryland  Agricultural  College. 

In  these  days  when  social  conventions  permit  college 
girls  to  go  everywhere  together  without  the  "escorts"  that 
earlier  times  deemed  imperative,  one  organization  which 
played  a  conspicuous  role  for  a  time  in  university  life  may 
seem  anomalous.  This  was  the  "G.  0.  I."  or  order  of  "Go 
Out  Independents."  The  members  of  this  organization  were 
pioneers  in  looking  forward  to  the  changed  conditions  of 
the  present,  and  they  had  the  encouragement  of  Chancellor 
Canfield,  who  was  always  forward-looking  and  anxious  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  girl  students.  The  G.  0.  I. 
demonstrated  that  girls  could  attend  football  games,  evening 
lectures,  society  programs,  and  other  public  functions,  with- 
out first  having  to  acquire  individual  escorts;  and  their 
stand  possibly  hastened  conditions  of  the  present,  when 
college  girls  seem  to  feel  free  to  go  anywhere  or  to  do  any- 
thing, whether  singly  or  in  groups. 

In  1883,  through  the  encouragement  and  enthusiasm  of 
Mr.  B.  L.  Paine,  a  religious  organization  consisting  of  six- 
teen young  men  and  nine  young  ladies  was  completed.  It 
took  to  itself  the  name  appropriate  to  the  majority  of  its 
membership  and  called  itself  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  In  1884,  the  young  women  formed  a  compan- 


ORGANIZATIONS  63 

ion  organization  of  their  own,  the  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association.  Both  organizations  have  had  since  then 
a  flourishing  and  unbroken  existence,  growing  in  influence 
and  in  numbers.  In  the  earliest  period  but  three  commit- 
tees were  appointed,  the  devotional,  the  membership,  and 
the  finance  committees.  The  expansion  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
in  the  line  of  practical  activities  is  shown  by  its  present- 
day  conduct  of  an  employment  bureau,  its  publication  of  a 
students'  handbook,  and  by  the  varied  duties  of  its  secre- 
tary— to  say  nothing  of  the  roles  assumed  by  it  with  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  Since  the  completion  of  the  Temple 
building,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  have  been 
permanently  housed  there,  and  they  have  contributed  to  the 
spiritual  and  social  welfare  of  many  students. 

Among  honorary  scholarship  organizations,  the  first  to 
enter  was  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  which  was  granted  a  charter 
from  the  national  organization  in  1896,  through  efforts 
instituted  by  Chancellor  Canfield.  Its  list  of  faculty  mem- 
bers has  included  such  men  as  Professors  E.  A.  Ross,  H.  B. 
Ward,  C.  E.  Bessey,  Roscoe  Pound,  F.  E.  Clements,  E.  B. 
Andrews,  E.  W.  Davis;  often  it  was  an  enviable  privilege 
to  hear  the  discussions  at  its  meetings.  Of  late  years  its 
brilliant  faculty  roll  has  been  thinned  by  deaths  and  by 
losses  to  other  institutions.  The  corresponding  scientific 
society,  Sigma  Xi,  entered  in  1897.  There  are  now  honorary 
scholarship  societies  in  nearly  all  departmental  lines,  mem- 
bership in  which  is  based  on  definite  achievement. 

By  this  time  there  are  too  many  organizations  asso- 
ciated with  the  life  of  the  University  for  detailed  enumera- 
tion. There  are  clubs  based  on  nationality,  like  the  Komen- 
sky  (Bohemian),  or  the  Tegner  (Swedish)  ;  denominational 
clubs,  like  the  Catholic  or  the  Christian  Science  clubs ;  class 
societies,  social  organizations;  military,  athletic,  musical, 
and  dramatic  societies;  and  there  are  departmental  socie- 
ties, ranging  in  their  interests  from  linguistics  and  journal- 
ism to  engineering  and  home  economics.  Beginning  with 
the  old  centers  of  undergraduate  life,  the  literary  societies, 
which  involved  small  groups  of  students,  there  have  come 
to  be  innumerable  social  centers  which  involve  thousands 


64  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

of  students.  Their  multifarious  types  and  activities  are 
surveyed  to  best  advantage  in  the  pages  of  the  students' 
annual,  The  Cornhusker.  The  varied  interests  and  the  in- 
creasing membership  of  student  organizations  at  the  Uni- 
versity parallel  the  expansion  of  the  institution  as  a  whole. 

LOUISE  POUND. 


THE  ALUMNI 

In  1873  two  men  went  forth  from  University  Hall,  the 
first  two  graduates  of  the  University  of  Nebraska.  Both 
men  are  living  and  active  today — the  one,  J.  S.  Dales,  as 
secretary  of  the  board  of  regents  and  of  the  University 
senate,  is  still  devoting  his  services  to  his  Alma  Mater;  the 
other,  Judge  William  H.  Snell,  is  a  practicing  attorney  at 
Tacoma,  Washington.  From  two,  the  roster  of  alumni  has 
grown  into  the  thousands,  until  today  they  are  scattered 
in  all  parts  of  the  world  and  in  all  lines  of  activities. 

Some  seven  thousand  men  and  women  as  graduates,  and 
many  more  as  non-graduates,  are  doing  their  bit  in  the 
world's  work  the  better  for  their  training  at  the  University. 
"By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  The  strongest  argu- 
ment that  can  be  adduced  in  support  of  a  state  loyal  and 
generous  to  its  university  is  the  fact  that  the  leaders  among 
its  citizenship,  whether  it  be  on  the  farm  or  in  the  city, 
very  often  are  University  men  and  women,  serving  in  turn 
the  state  that  has  so  well  served  them. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  short  article  to  pay  individual 
tribute  to  all  the  men  and  women  who  have  reflected  honor 
on  their  Alma  Mater.  Parenthetically,  and  speaking  of  men 
and  women,  it  ought  to  be  noted  that  the  first  woman  gradu- 
ate, Alice  May  Frost,  '76,  married  one  of  her  classmates, 
George  Elliot  Howard,  thereby,  as  it  were  ab  initio,  setting 
such  an  example  as  many  another  has  followed.  In  truth, 
it  is  no  negligible  feature  of  coeducation,  and  hence  of  the 
interest  of  the  alumni  life  of  a  coeducational  institution, 


THE  ALUMNI  65 

that  marriages  among  classmates  have  been  not  infrequent, 
and  again  that  the  children  of  such  marriages  have  returned 
in  a  later  generation  to  continue  the  life  and  the  traditions 
of  an  institution  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  their  parents  have 
a  particular  reason  for  loving. 

Several  years  ago  an  alumnus,  in  his  Alumni  Day  ad- 
dress, in  undertaking  to  recount  what  the  men  and  women 
who  have  reflected  honor  on  their  Alma  Mater  are  doing  in 
the  world,  apologized  for  the  shortcomings  of  his  account 
in  words  which  the  present  writer  must  borrow.  "No 
catalogue  of  names,"  he  said,  "no  selection  of  a  few,  can 
give  any  adequate  idea  of  the  broad  and  general  usefulness 
of  our  fellow  alumni  and  fellow  students  within  these  walls 
to  the  world."  Agreeing  with  this  statement,  and  advanc- 
ing it  as  my  own  caution,  I  shall  none  the  less  attempt  to 
record  a  few  names  of  alumni  who  eminently  represent  their 
Alma  Mater  in  the  world  of  men. 

Since  the  University  of  Nebraska  is  a  state  institution 
I  shall  mention  first  those  who  have  remained  to  serve 
within  their  state.  A  one-time  governor,  George  L.  Sheldon, 
class  of  1892,  a  United  States  senator,  Elmer  J.  Burkett, 
'93,  three  congressmen,  the  late  David  H.  Mercer,  '80, 
Omaha,  E.  M.  Pollard,  '93,  Nehawka,  and  J.  A.  Maguire, 
'98,  Lincoln,  the  present  police  commissioner  of  the  city  of 
Omaha,  J.  Dean  Ringer,  '03,  scores  of  members  in  both 
houses  of  the  state  legislatures,  and  scores  of  city  and  coun- 
ty officials,  are  men  all  of  whom  honorably  served  in  public 
life  their  state  and  their  community.  In  our  public  school 
system,  in  all  of  its  branches,  are  alumni.  We  have  first 
of  all  our  own  chancellor,  Dr.  Samuel  Avery,  '92,  the  first 
alumnus  to  serve  in  that  capacity.  We  rejoice  that  among 
the  faculty  there  are  still  with  us  alumni  who  began  more 
than  twenty-five  years  ago  to  serve  their  Alma  Mater ;  Dr. 
G.  E.  Howard,  '76 ;  Professor  H.  H.  Wilson,  '78 ;  Professor 
H.  W.  Caldwell,  '80 ;  Professor  Laurence  Fossler,  '81 ;  and 
Dean  0.  V.  P.  Stout,  '88.  The  staffs  of  our  normal  schools, 
high  schools,  city  and  rural  schools,  are  largely  made  up 
of  men  and  women  who  have  attended  if  not  graduated  from 
the  University. 


66  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

But  Nebraska  is  an  agricultural  state ;  and  if  its  highest 
institution  of  learning  did  not  serve  its  greatest  number  of 
constituents  there  would  be  just  ground  for  public  criticism. 
There  have  gone  back  to  their  farms  hundreds  of  men  and 
women  who  because  of  their  scientific  training  in  the  col- 
lege of  agriculture  and  their  broadening  training  in  the 
other  colleges  are  today  among  the  best  farmers  and  most 
progressive  citizens  in  their  communities.  Of  these  there 
comes  first  to  mind,  Regent  E.  P.  Brown,  '92,  of  Davey, 
farmer,  leader  in  various  rural  movements,  and  president 
of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  University.  Prominent  among 
the  horticulturists  of  the  state  is  E.  M.  Pollard,  '93,  of  Ne- 
hawka,  owner  of  the  famous  Pollard  orchards,  started  by 
his  father,  the  late  Isaac  Pollard,  in  1856.  The  editor  of 
The  Nebraska  Farmer,  a  weekly  which  has  the  largest  cir- 
culation of  any  farm  paper  in  the  state,  is  C.  W.  Pugsley, 
'06,  formerly  director  of  the  extension  service  of  the  college 
of  agriculture.  Of  the  many  women  who  are  working  side 
by  side  with  their  husbands  on  the  farm  perhaps  none  is 
more  deserving  of  mention  that  Mrs.  Fred  M.  Deweese 
(Alice  C.  Towne,  '05)  of  Hilaire  Farm,  Dawson.  Both  Mrs. 
and  Mr.  Deweese,  '02,  are  workers  in  many  activities.  As 
state  chairman  of  the  food  production  department  of  the 
woman's  committee  of  the  State  Council  of  Defense,  Mrs. 
Deweese  accomplished  one  of  the  most  constructive  pieces 
of  war  work  done  in  Nebraska. 

But  even  an  agricultural  state  needs  more  than  its  farm- 
ers. And  so  are  found  in  its  newspaper  work  men  like 
Clement  Chase,  '83,  president  of  the  Chase  Publishing  Com- 
pany, Omaha,  Harvey  E.  Newbranch,  '96,  editor  of  the 
Omaha  World-Herald,  and  Will  Owen  Jones,  '86,  editor  of 
The  Nebraska  State  Journal,  Lincoln.  In  industrial  lines 
N.  Z.  Snell,  '82,  president  of  the  Mid-West  Life  Insurance 
Company,  Lincoln;  Charles  F.  Schwarz,  '96,  president  of 
the  Schwarz  Paper  Company,  Lincoln ;  C.  Louis  Meyer,  '07, 
president  of  the  Concrete  Engineering  Company  of  Omaha, 
who  has  patented  a  system  of  reinforced  concrete  floors, 
are  but  a  few  of  the  men  who  have  built  up  enterprises 
within  our  state.  In  the  legal  profession  are  men  like 


THE  ALUMNI  67 

Judge  Ernest  B.  Perry,  '99,  of  Cambridge,  recent  candidate 
for  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  and  Judge  Lincoln  Frost, 
'86,  of  Lincoln,  a  prime  mover  in  the  social  welfare  activi- 
ties of  the  state.  But  I  realize  the  danger  of  trying  to  do 
justice  to  the  several  thousands  of  men  and  women  who  in 
every  corner  of  the  big  state  of  Nebraska  are  quietly  yet 
faithfully  doing  their  share,  whether  it  be  in  the  home,  on 
the  farm,  or  in  public  service. 

As  the  alumni  who  remained  within  the  state  have  done 
credit  to  their  University,  so  likewise  have  those  who  have 
ventured  forth,  whether  it  be  in  this  country  or  in  other 
lands.  And  difficult  as  it  seemed  to  select  the  men  most 
worthy  of  mention  within  the  state,  it  is  far  more  difficult 
to  do  so  among  those  who  went  elsewhere.  For  there  seems 
to  be  no  country  or  no  line  of  work  in  which  there  are  not 
several,  if  not  many,  pre-eminent  Nebraskans. 

In  public  service  arise  names  like  Charles  S.  Lobingier, 
'88,  Judge  of  the  United  States  court  for  China  at  Shang- 
hai, and  Charles  S.  Allen,  '86,  former  president  of  the  board 
of  regents,  now  a  public  spirited  citizen  of  the  city  of  San 
Jose,  California.  In  education  appear  the  names  of  Dean 
Roscoe  Pound,  '88,  of  Harvard  Law  School ;  President  A.  F. 
Woods,  '90,  of  the  College  of  Agriculture,  Maryland;  and 
Chancellor  Edward  C.  Elliott,  '95,  of  the  University  of  Mon- 
tana. Innumerable  are  the  students  of  Dr.  Bessey  who  are 
doing  noteworthy  research  along  botanical  lines — as  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Frederic  E.  Clements  (Edith  Schwartz,  '98)  of 
the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington ;  Dr.  P.  J.  O'Gara, 
'02,  of  the  American  Smelting  and  Refining  Company,  Salt 
Lake  City;  C.  A.  Fisher,  '98,  consulting  geologist  and  fuel 
engineer  of  Denver  who  has  just  been  appointed  by  the  War 
Department  one  of  seven  commissioners  who  are  to  deter- 
mine the  available  oil  and  gas  resources  of  the  nation.  In 
medicine,  Dr.  Charles  A.  Elliott,  '95,  of  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity, is  a  member  of  a  recently  appointed  commission 
of  five  men  who  will  devote  their  scientific  knowledge  to 
a  study  of  the  yellow  fever  scourge  in  South  America.  In 
engineering  may  be  mentioned  J.  W.  McCrosky,  '91,  recent- 
ly of  the  Bureau  of  Enemy  Trade,  Washington,  who  for 


68  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

many  years  was  connected  with  a  big  construction  company 
in  London;  and  W.  H.  Sawyer,  '94,  vice-president  of  the 
E.  W.  Clark  Co.,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

What  should  be  said  about  the  thousands  of  women 
graduates  of  the  University  of  Nebraska?  Their  highest 
contribution  is  that  of  home-builder.  They  are  the  mothers 
of  the  many  sons  and  daughters  who  have  come  and  will 
continue  to  come  to  the  Alma  Mater  of  their  parents.  As 
the  wives  of  alumni,  their  contributions  are  interwoven 
with  those  of  their  husbands.  They  have  followed  their 
husbands  into  the  missionary  fields  of  China  and  Japan. 
They  have  worked  side  by  side  with  them  in  their  research 
and  their  publications;  while  those  who  have  not  trained 
their  own  sons  and  daughters,  have  helped  to  train  others. 
As  teachers,  social  workers,  in  business,  and  in  the  profes- 
sions, their  record  is  a  constantly  growing  one.  Dr.  Edith 
Abbott,  '01,  of  Chicago,  social  worker  and  writer,  has  a 
national  reputation.  Her  first  book,  published  in  1910,  on 
Women  in  Industry,  is  a  classic  on  that  subject.  She  is  a 
member  of  the  faculty  of  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and 
Philanthropy  and  of  Chicago  University.  Willa  Gather, 
'95,  of  New  York  City,  one-time  associate  editor  of 
McClure's  Magazine,  and  author  of  several  highly  ranked 
books  of  fiction,  is  perhaps  our  best  known  alumna  in  the 
literary  field.  Leta  Stetter  Hollingworth,  '06,  a  member  of 
the  faculty  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  has 
won  distinction  alongside  her  husband,  H.  L.  Hollingworth, 
'06,  who  is  a  professor  of  psychology  at  Columbia.  Grace 
Coppock,  '05,  executive  secretary  of  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  for  China,  has  been  an  inspiration 
to  many  other  Nebraska  women  who  have  entered  similar 
fields. 

For  the  men  and  women  who  have  passed  on  but  are  not 
forgotten  no  tribute  seems  adequate  acknowledgement  of 
their  services.  The  latest  loss  the  alumni  suffered  was  in 
the  death  of  Dr.  Harry  Kirke  Wolfe,  '80,  head  of  the  de- 
partment of  philosophy.  Others  to  be  mentioned  are  Pro- 
fessor George  W.  Botsford,  '84,  of  Columbia,  distinguished 
historian ;  Edward  J.  Robinson,  '84,  engineer  with  the  Bur- 


THE  ALUMNI  69 

lington  railroad ;  Amos  G.  Warner,  '85,  author  of  American 
Charities,  still  the  standard  treatise  on  that  subject ;  Sarah 
Harris  Dorris,  '88 ;  Julia  M.  Korsmeyer  of  the  department 
of  Romance  languages;  Dr.  Howard  T.  Ricketts,  '94,  noted 
physician,  a  victim  of  his  own  typhoid  investigations — we 
might  go  on  selecting  names  from  every  class.  The  alumni 
who  have  given  their  lives  in  the  great  war  that  has  just 
been  brought  to  a  close  died,  as  they  lived,  reflecting  honor 
on  their  Alma  Mater. 

As  we  emerge  from  the  great  world  conflict  into  an 
age  of  peace  and  reconstruction,  the  alumni  find  them- 
selves represented  by  two  men  at  the  peace  gatherings  at 
Versailles, — General  John  J.  Pershing,  '93,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  American  Expeditionary  forces,  and  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Linn  Westermann,  '94,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
historian. 

I  realize  that  I  have  but  barely  touched  here  and  there 
the  records  of  the  thousands  of  alumni  who  represent  our 
Alma  Mater.  To  the  many  deserving,  yet  unmentioned, 
there  still  remains  the  satisfaction  of  service  well  done. 
With  every  alumnus  there  rests  the  duty  of  building  up  an 
alumni  association  that  will  more  fully  reflect  the  work  ac- 
complished by  our  great  alumni  body. 

ANNIS  S.  CHAIKIN, 
Secretary  of  the  Alumni  Association. 


70  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 

The  degree  to  which  a  university  may  be  an  asset  to  a 
community  varies  with  the  size  of  the  town.  In  some  in- 
stances it  is  completely  subordinated,  owing  to  overwhelm- 
ing industrial,  commercial,  and  social  interests.  Again,  in 
a  small  town,  it  may  dominate  the  life  of  the  community 
without  making  any  distinct  contribution  to  it.  In  such  a 
case,  class  consciousness  develops  within  the  institution 
which  causes  a  sharp  line  of  cleavage  between  the  towns- 
people and  the  university  group.  Faculty  and  citizens  do 
not  mingle  socially,  and  often  intense  dislike  for  the  student 
body  springs  up,  chiefly  on  account  of  their  pranks,  which 
get  beyond  control  through  lack  of  adequate  police  force. 

The  relationship  between  Lincoln  and  the  University 
has  been  most  happy  in  this  respect.  Both  were  located  on 
the  open  prairie  at  the  edge  of  civilization,  and  they  have 
grown  up  together  to  a  prosperous  middle  age.  In  1873, 
the  University  granted  two  degrees;  in  1910,  343  degrees. 
In  1870,  Lincoln  was  a  village  of  something  less  than  2,500 
people;  in  1910,  a  careful  census  gave  it  a  population  of 
44,000.  Both  Lincoln  and  the  University  now  lack,  within 
themselves,  the  intimate  relationships  of  the  early  days,  but 
the  challenge  of  the  commercial  and  social  forces  of  the 
city  is  still  met  by  the  educational  forces  of  the  University. 
Lincoln  is  more  widely  known  for  its  schools  than  for  its 
business  enterprises,  and  this  tends  toward  a  selective  pro- 
cess in  its  population.  Families  are  drawn  to  the  city  to 
educate  their  children,  and  teachers  and  librarians  often 
seek  employment  in  Lincoln  for  the  advantages  which  the 
University  offers. 

Citizens  and  faculty  mingle  freely  in  social  intercourse, 
while  personal  contact  between  the  student  body  and  the 
townspeople  is  increased  on  account  of  the  lack  of  dormi- 
tories. Instead  of  being  segregated  within  their  own  group, 
the  students  are  scattered  over  the  city, — many  in  their 
own  homes,  some  in  homes  temporarily  established  for  the 
period  of  their  college  residence,  others  with  friends  or 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  COMMUNITY       71 

relatives,  and  many  in  private  homes  where  only  two  or 
three  roomers  are  kept.  Although  this  system  has  its  dis- 
advantages, it  has  its  positive  value  in  keeping  students  in 
touch  with  normal  community  life, — the  environment  for 
which  they  are  fitting  themselves  by  their  college  experi- 
ences. The  fact  that  many  students  in  the  University  work 
their  way  through  school  is  an  added  means  of  bringing 
students  into  contact  with  community  life. 

In  the  early  days,  when  the  social  and  recreational  life 
of  the  city  was  much  more  simple  than  it  is  now,  the  literary 
societies  of  the  University  were  an  important  factor.  Their 
programs,  more  serious  than  they  are  today,  were  adver- 
tised in  the  newspapers  and  the  public  was  invited  to  at- 
tend. Many  townspeople  were  regularly  present  and  con- 
tributed, chiefly  in  the  way  of  music,  to  the  evening's 
entertainment. 

The  development  of  art  and  music  has  been  stimulated 
in  the  community  by  the  presence  of  the  University;  while 
institutions  such  as  the  annual  art  exhibit,  which  depend 
for  their  permanent  financial  support  upon  a  large  body  of 
citizens,  could  not  be  maintained  easily  in  a  small  town 
even  though  it  had  a  large  university. 

One  of  the  earliest  definite  efforts  of  the  school  to  make 
its  contribution  to  the  solution  of  community  problems  was 
the  establishment  of  the  University  Settlement  during  the 
school  year,  1895-1896.  It  was  known  as  the  Graham  Tay- 
lor House,  in  honor  of  the  founder  of  Chicago  Commons, 
who  came  to  Lincoln  in  that  year  to  help  in  starting  the 
project.  The  House  was  located,  during  the  greater  part 
of  its  existence,  at  Eighth  and  X  streets,  in  the  foreign 
district  in  Northwest  Lincoln.  The  board  of  control  was 
made  up  of  faculty  members;  the  residents  and  assistants 
were  students,  or  wives  of  University  professors.  In  1900, 
the  Settlement  was  moved  to  Twentieth  and  N  streets,  and 
some  years  later,  the  property  was  turned  over  to  the  Char- 
ity Organization  Society.  In  spite  of  the  short  life  of  the 
institution,  it  registered  its  influence  in  the  broadening  and 
democratizing  of  the  students  who  served  in  it,  some  of 


72  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

whom  have  since  made  well-known  contributions  in  social 
service. 

The  community  has  benefited  by  the  assistance  of  uni- 
versity instructors  in  a  wide  range  of  activities.  From 
early  days  to  the  present,  the  board  .of  education  of  the 
city  has  usually  numbered  faculty  members  upon  its  staff. 
In  the  early  period,  the  shaping  of  the  general  policy  of 
public  school  education,  and  the  building  program  of  recent 
years  have  been  due  in  no  small  part  to  them.  The  library 
board  and  various  departments  of  the  city  government,  as 
the  engineering  department,  the  park  board  and  the  water 
board,  have  made  use  of  their  expert  services.  They  have 
been  active  in  the  City  Improvement  and  Social  Welfare 
societies,  in  anti-tuberculosis  and  other  public  health  work, 
while  enthusiastic  support  has  been  given  to  the  prohibi- 
tion and  suffrage  movements.  University  professors  have 
sponsored  legislation  relating  to  child  labor,  mothers'  pen- 
sions, women  in  industry,  and  juvenile  courts;  while  the 
city  charter  and  problems  of  local  government  have  re- 
ceived their  earnest  attention.  The  community  draws 
largely  upon  the  university  faculty  for  help  in  forming 
public  opinion  on  social  questions,  and  in  contributing  to 
the  cultural  life  by  lectures  before  parent-teacher  associa- 
tions and  the  great  variety  of  men's  and  women's  clubs  in 
the  city.  In  addition  to  such  specific  contributions,  there 
can  be  little  question  that  the  presence  of  the  University  has 
imparted  a  more  serious  tone  to  the  life  and  thought  of 
the  community,  accounting  in  part  for  the  relative  freedom 
of  the  city  from  social  extravagances. 

The  community,  in  turn,  through  its  various  agencies, 
furnishes  a  laboratory  for  training  students  in  social  and 
civic  leadership.  No  doubt  the  history  of  the  student  vote, 
in  city  politics,  would  make  an  interesting,  and  not  always 
savory,  tale ;  for  it,  together  with  the  foreign  vote,  has  been 
the  uncertain  element,  which  could  be  handled  more  or  less 
en  >masse,  and  hence,  in  the  "old  days",  was  an  important 
consideration.  Anxious  politicians  always  advised  that  it 
"be  watched";  it  was  frequently  subjected  to  challenge  at 
the  polls ;  a  supreme  court  decision  has  been  rendered  upon 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  COMMUNITY      73 

it;  and  it  became  the  subject  of  state  legislation  when  its 
stand  in  favor  of  prohibition  helped  to  place  Lincoln  in  the 
dry  column. 

Not  only  has  the  city  furnished  practice  in  politics  and 
chance  for  observation  of  courts  and  legislatures,  but  oppor- 
tunity for  social  work  as  well.  Investigations  of  a  great 
variety  of  social  problems,  ranging  in  importance  from 
class  and  seminar  papers  to  doctoral  theses,  have  been  based 
on  local  data.  Students  carry  on  their  field  work  in  the 
social  sciences  through  numerous  community  agencies — 
charitable,  penal,  educational,  industrial,  recreational, 
health,  and  religious. 

To  a  great  degree  the  city  recognizes  the  responsibility 
laid  upon  it  through  the  presence  of  a  large  student  body. 
There  is  a  conspicuous  absence  of  any  desire  to  exploit  it 
on  the  part  of  the  city  at  large.  Its  tastes  are  catered  to 
—perhaps  too  largely  but  at  least  indulgently — in  amuse- 
ments ;  and  the  program  of  the  churches  is  shaped  with  the 
students  in  mind.  Their  presence  has  always  furnished  a 
talking  point  for  civic  reform,  and  on  their  account  various 
agencies  which  might  contribute  to  their  demoralization 
have  undoubtedly  been  more  easily  disposed  of,  or  have 
received  stricter  supervision. 

The  University  justifies  its  existence  best  by  the  service 
it  renders.  This  consists  "primarily  in  the  training  for  lead- 
ership; but  its  second  service  is  the  practical  help  given  by 
men  and  women  of  broad  study  to  the  problems  of  the  com- 
munity. More  and  more  must  this  latter  function  be  exer- 
cised, and  the  community  served  be  enlarged  from  the 
locality  in  which  the  University  is  situated  to  include  every 
town  and  open  country  district  in  the  state. 

HATTIE  PLUM  WILLIAMS. 


74  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  REGENTS 

The  act  of  the  legislature  approved  February  15,  1869, 
which  established  "The  University  of  Nebraska"  provided 
that 

The  general  government  of  the  university  shall  be  vested  in  a 
board  of  regents,  which  shall  consist  of  the  governor,  the  superin- 
tendent of  public  instruction,  the  chancellor  of  the  university,  all 
of  whom  shall  be  members  by  virtue  of  their  offices,  and  three  per- 
sons from  each  judicial  district,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
legislature  in  joint  session. 

The  governor  was  ex  officio  president  of  the  board.  The 
term  of  service  then  fixed  at  six  years  has  never  been 
changed.  This  plan  was  doubtless  adapted  from  Iowa,  just 
as  the  first  territorial  assembly  had  adopted  the  Iowa  civil 
and  criminal  code.  The  English  deprecatingly  admit  that 
they  "muddled  through"  the  war.  The  records  disclose 
that  the  experimentation  in  government  of  our  state  uni- 
versities is  scarcely  entitled  to  the  English  faint  praise.  It 
has  merely  muddled  along.  The  case  of  our  Iowa  ex- 
amplar  is  typical — though  in  some  other  states  the  fumbling 
has  been  more  frequent  and  effusive. 

The  act  of  the  first  general  assembly,  passed  February 
25,  1847,  which  established  the  State  University  of  Iowa, 
provided  that  it  should  be  governed  and  managed  by  fifteen 
trustees,  to  be  appointed  by  the  first  general  assembly  for 
a  term  of  six  years,  the  superintendent  of  public  instruction 
to  be  the  presiding  officer  of  the  board.  After  an  unfor- 
tunate experiment,  permitted  by  the  constitution  of  1857, 
with  a  "Board  of  Education"  elected  by  the  people,  but 
having  incongruous  legislative  powers,  an  act  of  March  21, 
1864,  provided  for  a  board  of  nine  regents,  of  which  the 
governor  was  president  ex  officio,  the  president  of  the  uni- 
versity a  member  ex  officio,  and  the  other  seven  members 
were  chosen  by  the  general  assembly,  as  before.  This 
method  of  choosing  the  regents  continued  until  the  separate 
governing  body  was  abolished  by  the  act  of  1909,  which 
placed  the  university,  the  College  of  Agriculture  and 


THE  REGENTS  75 

Mechanical  Arts  (at  Ames) ,  and  the  normal  school  at  Cedar 
Rapids  under  the  government  of  a  "State  Board  of  Educa- 
tion" consisting  of  nine  members,  appointed  by  the  gover- 
nor with  the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  senate  for  a  term 
of  six  years. 

Of  the  five  states  which  started  their  universities  with 
governing  boards  chosen  by  their  respective  legislatures, 
namely,  Indiana,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Nebraska, 
Iowa  alone  brought  that  method  into  the  present  period  of 
university  development.  I  have  examined  the  experiments 
of  thirteen  states,  besides  Nebraska,  with  the  governing 
boards  of  their  universities,  but  space  permits  only  a 
skeleton  outline  of  the  main  changes  they  have  made.  The 
University  of  Michigan  began,  in  1837,  with  the  appointive 
system,  but  the  constitution  of  1850  fixed  the  elective 
method  beyond  practicable  recall.  Indiana  University, 
established  in  1838,  was  governed  by  a  board  of  trustees 
named  by  the  legislature.  Until  1855  vacancies  were  filled 
by  the  board  itself;  then,  until  1891,  by  the  state  board  of 
education.  Since  1891  the  board  of  education  has  ap- 
pointed five  trustees  and  the  alumni  resident  in  the  state 
have  appointed  three  of  their  own  number.  The  governing 
board  of  the  University  of  Missouri  was  appointed  from 
1839  till  1868  by  the  legislature ;  since  then  it  has  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  and  the  senate.  The  regents  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin  were  elected  by  the  legislature 
from  1848  to  1866 ;  since  then  they  have  been  appointed  by 
the  governor  alone.  The  regents  of  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota have  been  appointed,  from  1851  to  the  present  time, 
by  the  governor  and  the  senate.  At  the  University  of  Kan- 
sas, the  regents  were  appointed  from  1864  to  1913  by  the 
governor  and  the  senate;  then  all  educational  institutions 
were  placed  under  the  control  of  a  "State  Board  of  Admin- 
istration," consisting  of  three  members  appointed  by  the 
governor  and  the  senate  and  the  governor  as  ex  officio  mem- 
ber and  chairman;  in  1917  this  method  was  spread  over 
all  state  institutions.  At  the  University  of  Illinois,  the  re- 
gents were  appointed  from  1867  to  1887  by  the  governor 
and  the  senate;  since  then  they  have  been  elected  by  pop- 


76  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

ular  vote.  The  University  of  California  began  (1868)  with 
the  complex  system  of  six  ex  officio  regents,  eight  appointed 
by  the  governor  and  senate  for  sixteen  years  and  as  many 
more  chosen  by  the  fourteen  for  a  like  long  term,  now  there 
are  twenty-four  members,  eight  ex  officio  and  sixteen  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor.  The  regents  of  Ohio  State  Uni- 
versity, founded  in  1878,  have  always  been  appointed  by 
the  governor  and  the  senate.  The  University  of  South  Da- 
kota, first  called  the  University  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota, 
1883,  then  the  University  of  Dakota,  1887,  discarding 
earlier  methods,  is  now  governed  by  "Regents  of  Educa- 
tion" appointed  by  the  governor  and  the  senate  to  have 
jurisdiction  over  all  educational  institutions.  The  Univer- 
sity of  North  Dakota,  1883,  is  governed  by  a  board  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  and  senate.  The  University  of 
Colorado,  1876,  by  provision  of  the  constitution,  has  a  gov- 
erning board  elected  by  the  people. 

The  act  to  establish  the  University  of  Nebraska  au- 
thorized the  governor  to  appoint  the  members  of  the  first 
board  of  regents,  and  he  announced  his  choice  as  follows: 
From  the  first  judicial  district,  Rev.  John  C.  Elliott,  Otoe 
county,  two  years;  Robert  W.  Furnas,  of  Nemaha,  four 
years;  Rev.  D.  R.  Dungan,  Pawnee,  six  years;  from  the 
second  judicial  district,  Rev.  John  B.  Maxfield  of  Cass,  two 
years ;  Abel  B.  Fuller,  of  Saunders,  four  years ;  Champion 
S.  Chase,  of  Douglas,  six  years ;  from  the  third  judicial  dis- 
trict, William  B.  Dale,  of  Platte,  two  years;  Rev.  William 
G.  Olinger,  of  Burt,  four  years ;  Dr.  Fyfield  H.  Longley,  of 
Washington,  six  years. 

The  board  was  organized  at  a  meeting  held  in  Lincoln 
on  June  3,  1869,  when  August  F.  Harvey,  uncommonly  in- 
telligent and  virile,  was  elected  secretary  and  John  L.  Mc- 
Connell  treasurer.  Mr.  Harvey  was  a  protege  of  the  capi- 
tal commissioners,  functioning  as  surveyor  of  the  site  of 
Lincoln,  and  as  editor  of  the  peripatetic  Statesman,  he  was 
a  stout  defender  of  the  fiercely  assaulted  acts  of  his  patrons. 
Mr.  McConnell  afterward  became  a  well  known  merchant 
in  Lincoln.  At  this  meeting,  the  regents  approved  the 
plans  and  specifications  for  the  first  building  which  had 


THE  REGENTS  77 

been  adopted  by  the  building  commissioners,  who  were  iden- 
tical with  the  capital  commissioners.  At  the  second  meet= 
ing,  begun  September  22,  1869,  the  regents  attended  the 
ceremonies  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  building  on 
September  23;  at  the  third  meeting,  begun  December  22, 
1870,  Uriah  Bruner,  of  Cuming  county,  was  chosen  regent 
in  place  of  Dale,  and  Rev.  Henry  T.  Davis,  of  Lincoln,  sec- 
retary in  place  of  Harvey,  both  of  the  original  incumbents 
having  removed  from  the  state.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
board  held  in  December,  1875,  J.  Stuart  Dales  was  elected 
secretary  to  succeed  Mr.  Davis,  and  he  has  continuously 
held  the  office  to  the  present  time. 

Aside  from  the  pan-sectarian  aspect  of  their  aggregate, 
the  members  of  the  first  board  of  regents  were  pretty  well 
assorted.  The  governors  choice  of  clergymen  for  four  of 
the  nine  appointive  members — perhaps  five,  for  it  is  said 
that  Fuller  had  taken  Episcopalian  orders — and  the  elec- 
tion by  the  board  itself  of  a  reverend  chancellor  and  a  rev- 
erend secretary  gave  the  infant  institution  a  distinctively 
clerical  cast.  This  virtual  stamping  of  the  principal  state 
school  as  protege  and  ward  of  the  church  was  doubtless 
due  in  part  to  the  still  surviving  belief  or  concession  that 
the  inculcation  of  religion  was  the  most  important  part  of 
even  public  education.  Probably,  however,  the  politic  gov- 
ernor was  mainly  intent  on  procuring  the  active  co-opera- 
tion of  the  churches  in  the  difficult  and  even  doubtful  experi- 
ment upon  which  the  state,  whose  people  were  chiefly  ex- 
perienced in  a  sense  of  poverty,  was  entering. 

Rev.  John  C.  Elliott  was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  Nebraska  City  from  1866  to  1869,  and  he  is  still 
living — at  Seville,  Ohio.  Delineation  of  the  character 
and  career  of  Robert  W.  Furnas  is  accessible  to  the  not 
numerous  citizens  of  the  state  who  are  unfamiliar  with 
them.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment,  Rev.  David  Roberts 
Dungan  was  a  resident  of  Lincoln  and  had  been  engaged 
for  about  five  years  in  missionary  work  in  Nebraska  for  the 
sect  called  the  Church  of  Christ.  After  1874  he  was  for 
many  years  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  Drake  University, 
at  Des  Moines ;  and  he  was  president  of  Cotner  University 


78  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

for  six  years — from  1890.  He  now  lives  at  Glendale,  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  preaches  occasionally.  Rev.  John  B.  Max- 
field  joined  the  Nebraska  conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  in  1861,  and  he  was  actively  engaged  in 
the  service  of  his  sect,  as  preacher,  teacher,  and  presiding 
elder  until  near  the  year  of  his  death  in  1900.  Forcefulness 
was  his  characteristic  quality.  He  held  the  charge  at  Platts- 
mouth  at  the  time  of  his  appointment.  Abel  B.  Fuller  set- 
tled at  Ashland,  then  in  Cass  county,  in  1863,  where  he  kept 
a  general  merchandise  store  until  1867,  when  he  became 
land  agent  for  the  Union  Pacific  and  Burlington  and  Mis- 
souri River  railroad  companies  and  was  so  employed  when 
he  was  appointed  regent.  He  was  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  twelfth  and  last  territorial  legis- 
lative assembly,  in  1867,  and  of  the  same  house  of  the  sec- 
ond state  legislature  in  the  same  year.  The  session  of  the 
territorial  assembly  ended  February  18  and  that  of  the 
state  legislature  began  February  20.  The  members  of  the 
territorial  assembly  were  chosen  at  the  regular  election, 
under  the  law  of  the  territory,  on  October  9,  1866.  The 
pending  process  of  admitting  the  territory  to  statehood 
being  then  under  arrest  by  President  Johnson,  provisional 
members  of  a  state  legislature  were  elected  at  the  same 
time.  Moreover,  the  Republicans  nominated  the  same  men 
for  members  of  legislative  bodies  under  the  actual  terri- 
torial and  the  prospective  state  regime,  and  this  body  of 
dual  parts,  sitting  as  a  state  legislature  immediately  follow- 
ing its  regular  territorial  session,  accepted  the  negro  suf- 
frage condition  precedent  to  statehood  imposed  by  the  con- 
gress. 

Three  members  of  the  board,  Governor  Butler,  Furnas, 
soon  to  be  governor  (the  ambitious  political  aspirations  of 
both  soon  to  be  cut  down,  never  to  rise  again) ,  and  Champ- 
ion S.  Chase,  belonged  to  the  class  commonly  called  profes- 
sional politicians;  and  it  is  but  doing  Elder  Maxfield  justice 
to  observe  that  he  also  seems  to  have  shone  in  that  class 
with  native  distinction.  In  his  public  aspect  and  activities 
Regent  Chase  was  a  ubiquitous  and  picturesque  personage, 
and  forceful  withal.  He  was  a  paymaster  in  the  Union 


THE  REGENTS  79 

army,  the  first  state's  attorney — under  the  first  constitution 
an  extra-constitutional  office —  1867-68;  mayor  of  Omaha 
for  three  terms.  In  1878-79  there  was  a  very  persistent 
and  alleged  corrupt  attempt  by  the  city  council  to  adopt  the 
Holly  water  works  system,  and  Mayor  Chase's  repeated  veto 
of  the  ordinances  which  were  passed  for  that  purpose  won 
and  doubtless  deserved  general  praise. 

In  1865,  William  B.  Dale  came  from  the  state  of  New 
York  to  Columbus,  Nebraska,  where  he  engaged  in  the  sale 
of  lumber  and  in  storekeeping.  At  the  third  meeting  of 
the  board  of  regents,  begun  December  22,  1870,  according 
to  a  provision  of  the  act  for  establishing  the  University 
which  authorized  the  board  to  fill  vacancies  occurring  when 
the  legislature  was  not  in  session,  Uriah  Bruner,  of  Cum- 
ing  county,  was  appointed  a  successor  to  Mr.  Dale  for  the 
reason,  as  alleged  in  the  record,  that  he  had  removed  from 
the  state.  It  appears,  however,  that  he  remained  a  resident 
of  Columbus  for  many  years  after  this  occurrence.  Mr. 
Bruner  had  settled  at  West  Point  in  1856  and  in  1869  be- 
came the  first  receiver  of  the  land  office  there.  Rev.  Wil- 
liam G.  Olinger  came  with  his  parents  from  Virginia  to 
Tekamah  in  1855.  On  October  24,  1862,  the  boy  of  19  was 
mustered  as  a  private  in  company  B  Second  Regiment  Ne- 
braska Cavalry,  of  which  Furnas,  his  colleague  on  the 
board  of  regents,  was  colonel.  He  served  until  September 
4,  1863.  He  was  afterward  treasurer  of  Burt  county  and  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  sixth  legis- 
lature, of  1875.  When  he  was  appointed  a  regent  he  was 
pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Tekamah,  for 
which  he  personally  provided  the  meeting  house.  He  sub- 
sequently became  a  preacher  in  the  Congregational  church, 
in  Oregon.  His  neighbors  of  Tekamah  speak  in  high  praise 
of  his  spirit  and  character.  Dr.  Fyfield  H.  Longley  was  a 
member  of  the  first  board  of  trustees  of  Blair,  in  1869,  and 
was  a  reputable  physician  there. 

Rev.  Allen  R.  Benton  became  ex  officio  regent  by  his 
election  as  first  chancellor  of  the  university,  which  occurred 
at  the  fourth  meeting  of  the  board  on  January  6,  1871.  The 
two  other  ex  officio  regents  were  Governor  David  Butler 


80  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

and  Samuel  DeWitt  Beals,  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion. The  first  constitution  of  the  state  made  no  provision 
for  the  office  of  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  but 
"An  Act  to  Establish  a  system  of  Public  Instruction  for  the 
State  of  Nebraska,"  passed  on  the  same  day  as  the  act  to 
establish  the  state  university,  created  the  office  and  au- 
thorized the  governor  to  appoint  a  superintendent  whose 
tenure  should  continue  until  January  1,  1871,  when  he 
would  be  succeeded  by  the  person  chosen  at  the  regular 
election  of  1870.  Accordingly,  on  the  next  day  after  the 
passage  of  the  act,  the  governor  appointed  S.  D.  Beals,  who 
thereupon  became  regent.  He  contested  for  nomination  for 
the  office  in  the  Republican  state  convention  of  1870,  but 
was  defeated  by  John  Murray  McKenzie,  who  therefore 
succeeded  to  both  offices.  Subsequently  Mr.  Beals  had  a 
long  career  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Omaha. 

On  February  28,  1871,  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature, 
in  joint  convention,  elected  Dwight  J.  McCann,  of  Otoe 
county,  in  place  of  Elliott;  Maxfield  (still  credited  to  Cass 
county)  and  Bruner,  each  as  his  own  successor;  all  for  the 
full  term  of  six  years  from  March  1,  1871.  Similarly,  on 
the  29th  of  January,  1873,  the  legislature  elected  William 
D.  Scott,  of  Rulo,  Richardson  county;  James  W.  Savage,  of 
Omaha;  and  William  Adair,  of  Dakota  City,  regents  for 
the  full  term  from  March  1,  1873. 

On  the  16th  day  of  February,  1875,  the  legislature 
passed  a  joint  resolution  declaring  that  the  office  of  regent 
from  the  first  judicial  district  was  vacant  because  McCann, 
the  nominal  incumbent,  had  removed  from  the  state  and 
had  not  attended  any  meeting  of  the  board  during  the  last 
eighteen  months.  On  the  same  day  and  in  like  manner,  the 
place  to  which  Maxfield  had  been  elected,  from  the  second 
district,  was  declared  vacant  because  he  had  moved  to  the 
first  district — from  Plattsmouth  to  Beatrice.  On  the  same 
day  the  legislature  elected  Edgar  M.  Hungerford,  of  the  Or- 
leans Sentinel,  Harlan  county,  in  the  first  district,  in  Mc- 
Cann's  place,  and  Samuel  J.  Tuttle,  of  Lincoln,  Lancaster 
county,  in  the  second  district,  in  Maxfield's  place.  Charles 
A.  Holmes,  of  Tecumseh,  Johnson  county,  in  the  first  dis- 


THE  REGENTS  81 

trict,  was  chosen  for  the  full  term,  in  place  of  Dungan; 
Benjamin  H.  Barrows,  editor  of  the  Omaha  Republican-&nd 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  chosen  for 
the  full  term  for  the  second  district,  to  succeed  Champion 
S.  Chase,  who  received  five  votes  against  thirty-nine  for 
Barrows;  and  Dr.  Alexander  Bear,  of  Norfolk,  Madison 
county,  for  the  full  term  from  the  third  district,  to  succeed 
Dr.  Longley,  who  had  removed  from  Blair  in  1872  to  be- 
come the  first  receiver  of  the  United  States  land  office  at 
North  Platte,  where  he  subsequently  practiced  his  profes- 
sion until  he  died,  about  eight  years  ago.  But  Lincoln  county 
was  in  the  third  district,  so  that  he  remained  regent  until 
the  end  of  his  term.  Dr.  Longley  must  have  been  a  clever 
politician,  for  he  managed  to  hold  lucrative  political  offices 
while  he  was  preparing  and  waiting  for  his  long  and  suc- 
cessful professional  career. 

McCann  was  president  of  the  Nebraska  City  National 
Bank  and  otherwise  prominent ;  but  he  wrote  compromising 
political  letters,  and,  drifting  to  Wyoming,  then  a  Mecca  for 
superfluous  politicians  of  Nebraska,  he  crippled  his  career 
by  getting  caught  in  fraudulent  transactions  in  the  United 
States  revenue  service.  Maxfield  aspired  to  re-election  in 
1875,  but  he  also  unwarily  wrote  a  letter  to  McConnell, 
treasurer  of  the  university,  admonishing  him  that  "we 
ought  to  have  two  or  three  thousand  in  Griggs  and  Webb's 
bank  here  [Beatrice]  at  the  opening  of  the  session.  If  so 
they  cannot  move  the  money  into  the  state  treasury  during 
the  session.  We  will  then  have  a  man  at  court.  This  will 
guarantee  our  continuance."  For  "there  will  not  be  a  more 
influential  member  in  the  senate" — than  Griggs,  who  was 
slated  for  its  president.  It  appears  that  the  letter  guaran- 
teed Maxfield's  discontinuance;  and  McConneH's  office  was 
abolished  by  that  legislature. 

Hungerford  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  on  the  morning 
of  January  3,  1876,  three  days  before  the  beginning  of  his 
elective  term.  By  common  appraisement  the  young  man— 
of  only  twenty-seven  years — was  of  a  high  type  of  both 
character  and  accomplishment.  On  January  7,  Governor 
Garber  appointed  Rev.  Lebbius  Fifield,  of  Kearney,  to  fill 


82  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

the  vacancy,  and  at  the  regular  election  of  that  year  he  was 
chosen  for  the  remainder  of  Hungerford's  term.  He  was 
elected  for  another  term  in  1881.  Judge  Tuttle  remembers 
him  as  a  man  of  fine  character  and  spirit;  but  he  was  the 
last  clergyman  on  the  board.  The  inevitable  radical  reac- 
tion against  the  ecclesiastic  regime,  which  culminated  in 
1882,  stood  pat,  unwisely  as  I  think. 

Considering  the  character  of  the  pioneer  population  and 
the  paucity  of  numbers  to  choose  from,  the  legislatures  were 
clearly  more  discriminating  than  the  people  at  large  have 
been  in  their  choice  of  regents.  Of  those  well  adapted  to 
the  delicate  and  difficult  task  of  establishing  the  university, 
Dungan,  Fuller,  Chase,  Longley,  Savage,  Hungerford,  Bar- 
rows, Bear,  and  Tuttle  deserve  mention.  All  were  marked 
by  more  than  ordinary  character,  education,  and  intelli- 
gence. That  by  the  legislative  plan  two  democrats  could  be 
chosen  and  that  two  such  democrats  as  Savage  and  Bear 
were  chosen  is  highly  to  its  credit.  I  knew  them,  Horatio, 
— both  "of  most  excellent  fancy."  Judge  Savage  was  a  man 
of  that  peculiar  cast  which  inspires,  holds,  and  deserves 
public  confidence.  Moreover,  at  the  time  in  question  his 
profession  had  not  become  for  the  most  part  the  mere  hand- 
maid of  business,  and,  in  some  sort,  it  still  lived  up  to  its 
reputation  as  the  learned  profession,  as  Judge  Savage  did. 
Dr.  Bear  was  the  Virginian  gentleman.  Speech  came 
mended  from  his  tongue  with  the  soft  touch  and  melodious 
cadence  of  the  South.  He  took  part  of  the  college  course 
of  the  University  of  Virginia  and  his  medical  degree,  in 
1860,  at  the  University  of  Maryland.  He  had  begun  to  prac- 
tice when  he  was  caught  in  the  vortex  of  the  war  serving 
— on  the  Confederate  side  of  course — the  full  four  years, 
three  of  them  as  surgeon — prime  preparation  for  his  very 
successful  medical  career,  which  he  resumed  in  Nebraska 
in  1866,  settling  permanently  at  Norfolk  in  1872.  Not  long 
ago  he  retired  with  a  handsome  competence  to  Richmond, 
Virginia,  his  boyhood  home. 

Judge  Tuttle,  now  working  out,  hale  and  hearty,  his 
fiftieth  year  of  continuous  practice  at  the  Lincoln  bar,  had 
been  college  bred  in  Michigan  and  was  encouraged  for  the 


THE  REGENTS  83 

Nebraska  experiment  by  the  success  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  the  only  state  university  then  fairly  on  its  feet. 
His  observation  of  the  ecclesiastical  episode  in  Michigan 
prepared  him  for  its  Nebraska  run,  and  he  was  so  tempered 
as  to  be  able  to  treat  it  fairly.  Judge  Tuttle  drew  the  four- 
year  term  under  the  new  constitution,  1876-89.  His  influ- 
ence in  the  board  was  strong  and  wholesome,  especially  as 
its  president,  1876-77. 

The  present  constitution  of  Nebraska,  which  was 
adopted  at  the  general  election  of  1875,  provided  that  "the 
general  government  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  shall, 
under  the  direction  of  the  legislature,  be  vested  in  a  board 
of  six  regents ....  who  shall  be  elected  by  the  electors  of  the 
state  at  large"  for  a  term  of  six  years,  except  that  the  re- 
gents chosen  at  the  next  succeeding  election — of  1875 — 
should  be  classified  by  lot  so  that  the  tenure  of  two  of  them 
should  be  two  years,  of  two  others  four  years,  and  of  two 
others  six  years.  Anticipating  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion at  the  same  election,  the  Republicans  nominated  a  par- 
tisan ticket,  comprising  four  of  the  incumbents — Adair, 
Holmes,  Hungerford,  and  Tuttle — and  Joseph  W.  Gannett, 
of  Douglas  county  and  Seth  P.  Mobley,  of  Hall.  Dr.  Bear 
met  inevitable  defeat  with  his  companions  on  the  democratic 
ticket,  and  thereafter  none  but  republicans  were  permitted 
to  participate  in  the  government  of  this  principal  educa- 
tional institution  until,  in  1891,  Edwin  A.  Hadley,  of  Gree- 
ley  county,  slipped  in  on  the  Independent  People's  ticket.  By 
1900  "fusionists"  dominated  the  board,  and  they  thereupon 
elected  E.  Benjamin  Andrews  chancellor  by  a  strict  party 
vote,  four  to  two!  The  nominally  nonpartisan  method  of 
electing  regents  provided  by  the  act  of  1917  may  measur- 
ably improve  their  fitness,  but  they  will  still  be  commonly 
either  self -nominated  or,  rather  worse,  nominated  by  co- 
teries. In  the  year  1890,  President  Thomas  C.  Chamberlain, 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  gave  the  charter-day  ad- 
dress at  Nebraska.  In  discussing  with  him  the  affairs  of 
the  two  institutions,  I  said  my  chief  regret  was  that  our 
regents  were  not  appointed  as  in  Wisconsin,  and  he 
promptly  replied  that  his  chief  regret  was  that  they  were 


84  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

not  elected  in  Wisconsin  as  in  Nebraska.  But  the  steady 
adherence  to  the  appointive  plan  in  ten  of  the  fourteen 
states  cited  is  strong  evidence  that  the  appointive  method 
is  not  as  objectionable  as  the  elective.  The  superstitious 
tendency  to  "put  God  in  the  constitution"  has  caused  great 
inconvenience  and  often  worse  harm.  A  plan  of  choosing 
regents  is  not  a  principle  but  a  mere  method,  which  should 
be  left  subject  to  legislative  change;  and  I  do  not  doubt 
that  if  the  elective  method  had  not  been  mistakenly  cast  in 
the  constitutions  of  Michigan,  Nebraska,  and  Colorado,  it 
would  long  ago  have  been  changed  into  harmony  with  the 
appointive  method  of  the  ten  states  I  have  named. 

Yet  this  is  not  a  momentous  matter;  for  as  the  univer- 
sities grow  and  become  more  complex,  their  control,  both 
as  to  initiative  and  management,  tends  to  fall  more  and 
more  into  the  hands  of  the  specialists — the  chief  executive 
and  the  faculty.  The  regents'  functions,  in  detail,  are 
chiefly  of  a  regulatory  sort,  and  in  general,  mediatorial  be- 
tween specialists  and  the  people.  They  are  handy  adjuncts. 
On  occasion,  their  very  differentiation  prompts  them  to  open 
the  blinders  of  the  specialists  to  a  broader  outlook.  On  the 
other  hand,  an  omniscient,  or  single-minded,  or  self-suf- 
ficient board  of  regents  would  surely  be  embarrassing  and 
might  be  positively  troublesome. 

It  is  a  corollary  that  the  regents  should  not  be  of  one 
kind — as  at  least  five  out  of  our  present  six  are — but  that 
their  pristine  variety  should  be  restored.  Doubt  obscures  the 
educational  outlook  as  chaos  confronts  political  order.  Says 
Professor  Coe,  of  the  Badger  State  university:  "For  this 
period  of  remarkable  outer  achievement  has  been  also  a 
period  of  skepticism  and  even  of  despair.  We  have  fallen 
of  late  into  a  deep  discontent  with  the  college."  And  thus 
Professor  Canby,  of  Yale:  "I  am  not  writing  a  treatise  on 
education  after  the  war,  for  the  excellent  reason  that 
neither  I  nor  any  one  else  knows  the  terms  upon  which  it 
will  be  conducted."  But  the  melting  blow-pipe  of  Profes- 
sor Veblen's  A  Memorandum  of  the  Conduct  of  Universi- 
ties by  Business  Men  pales  other  ineffectual  fires. 


PUBLICATIONS  85 

In  some  important  aspects  at  least,  our  present  "Red- 
blood"  board  is  stronger  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  But, 
the  Red-blood  "neither  looks  back  nor  looks  ahead.  He 
lives  in  present  action.  The  Red-blood  sees  nothing;  but 
the  Mollycoddle  sees  through  everything."  Though  "all  the 
building  is  done  by  Red-bloods,"  yet  "the  whole  structure 
of  civilization  rests  on  foundations  laid  by  Mollycoddles," 
and  "in  the  long  run  the  Red-blood  does  what  the  Molly- 
coddle tells  him."  Says  the  strenuous  Oswald — in  Joan 
and  Peter — "Don't  you  know  that  education  is  building  up 
an  imagination?  Everybody  knows  that."  A  temerarious 
critic  of  the  supreme  American  mollycoddle  settles  it  in  a 
sentence:  "And  if  Lincoln  had  been  a  good  executive,  we 
should  have  had  no  Lincoln." 

ALBERT  WATKINS. 


PUBLICATIONS 

Except  for  official  bulletins  or  catalogues,  the  earliest 
regular  publication  issuing  from  the  campus  was  The 
Hesperian  Student,  established  about  1871  or  1872.  The 
paper  was  managed  entirely  by  students,  but  received  a 
little  financial  aid  from  the  regents.  The  first  editors  of 
the  paper  lodged  on  the  attic-like  top  floor  of  the  building, 
as  did  the  janitor;  and  they  helped  to  keep  up  the  fires  in 
the  stoves  by  which  the  building  was  heated.  The  contents 
of  The  Hesperian  were  varied.  It  ran  a  few  original  serial 
stories,  and  contained  an  article  on  "The  Beautiful  in  Art," 
and  one  entitled  "Nature  and  Art  and  Intellect."  As  a 
specimen  of  style,  the  following  gem,  concerning  the  gradu- 
ates of  1877,  unearthed  from  a  local  column  by  Mr.  J.  A. 
Barrett,  in  1894,  may  be  quoted : 

The  hour  when  these  young  men  departed  from  her  fostering 
care,  was  one  of  deep  interest  and  earnest  solicitude,  as  well  as 
pride,  to  their  alma  mater  in  her  young  maternity.  An  hour  of 
joy  and  pride,  because  her  progeny,  rejoicing  in  the  full  vigor, 
elasticity,  lofty  aspiration  and  hope  of  intelligent,  cultured  young 


86  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

manhood,  were  now  about  to  enter  the  broad  arena  of  life's  con- 
test, with  the  peculiar  devices  she  has  taught  emblazoned  upon 
their  shields,  as  her  representatives,  to  labor  and  achieve  in  her 
name. 

The  following,  also  gleaned  by  Mr.  Barrett,  was  from 
a  later  column  and  concerns  the  high  school : 

In  taste  and  beautiful  arrangement  the  exercises  were  not 
excelled  by  any  entertainment  of  the  university.  The  graduating 
class  consisted  of  three  beautiful  and  talented  young  ladies  and 

one  young  gentleman.     The  productions  of  the  ladies 

were  surprisingly  excellent  in  thought,  and  couched  in  splendidly 
beautiful  language.  Every  sentence  seemed  to  sparkle  with  word- 
gems  and  sentences  of  pearls.  The  address  of  the  young  gentleman 
,  on  "The  Manias  of  the  Age,"  was  a  worthy  produc- 
tion. It  lacked  the  glitter  and  music  with  which  the  young  ladies 
adorned  their  thoughts,  but  we  liked  it  equally  as  well.  He  showed 
the  elements  of  manly  thought  in  grappling  with  the  knottj  prac- 
tical problems  of  the  day,  and  evinced  a  conception  of  the  follies 
and  fantasies  of  the  age. 

In  the  early  nineties  the  management  of  The  Hesperian 
became  largely  a  matter  of  school  politics.  Alumni  will 
recall  the  rather  ornate  cover  designed  by  Miss  Sarah  Wool 
Moore  of  the  art  department.  It  represented  a  huge  sun- 
flower supported  by  two  "Hesperian  students."  Across  the 
face  of  the  sunflower  ran  a  ribbon  bearing  the  letters 
"Hesperian  Student."  The  typography  of  the  paper  became 
so  careless  that  it  was  not  unusual  for  the  paper  to  appear 
with  all  the  s's,  or  some  other  letters,  in  italics.  These 
strange  freaks  of  the  printer  became  such  a  joke  among  the 
students  that  one  day  a  fake  edition  of  The  Hesperian  ap- 
peared. It  was  made  up  largely  of  the  most  absurd  items 
from  the  real  Hesperian.  The  following  is  an  extract  from 
the  mock  Hesperian  and  is  said  to  be  almost  a  reproduction 
of  an  article  in  a  real  issue : 

Hair-Breadth  Escape  of  J.  H.  Hooper 

At  the  close  of  last  term  a  brutal  and  cowardly  attack  was  made 
upon  J.  H.  Hooper  by  a  band  of  nine  sneaking  thugs  and  assassius  who 
attempted  to  bind  and  gag  him;  boubt  less  with  the  intention  of  robbing 
him  and  leaving  him  a  Mutilated  corpse  by  the  roadside.  But 
Hooper  proved  too  much  for  them.  Summoning  all  his  resolution  he 
hurlad  the  villians  from  him— knocking  down  five  and  dragging  the 


PUBLICATIONS  87 

other  seven  after  him.  Mr.  Hooper's  Heroic  resistance,  one  MAN 
against  seventeen  so  paralyzed  the  nineteen  despejadoas  that  nothing 
more  is  to  be  feared  from  Them. 

In  1892  Willa  Gather  became  a  literary  editor  of  The 
Hesperian,  and  a  few  years  later  editor-in-chief ;  and  it  was 
under  her  vigorous  leadership  that  the  paper  reached  its 
maximum  of  excellence.  The  following  passage  is  excerpted 
from  the  quarter-centennial  number  and  suggests  by  its 
virile  dash  of  composition  Miss  Gather's  authorship : 

Along  in  '84  and  '85  THE  HESPERIAN  had  a  literary  column 
in  which  it  felt  in  duty  bound  to  review  current  literature.  In 
reading  this  column  we  learned  among  other  new  and  startling 
things  that  The  Portrait  of  a  Lady  is  a  novel  by  Henry  James, 
that  it  is  very  immoral  and  should  be  carefully  kept  from  the  young. 
Furthermore,  we  learned  that  War  and  Peace  was  a  novel  by 
Count  Tolstoi,  and  that  it  was  very  good,  though  somewhat  volumin- 
ous. Of  Bordello  the  literary  editor  merely  says  that  it  is  a  poem 
by  Robert  Browning.  It  is  a  case  in  which  silence  speaks,  appar- 
ently. In  the  local  column  we  find  a  casual  mention  that  Bismarck 
has  been  ill  for  a  few  days,  and  that  Tennyson  dined  at  Windsor 
Castle  last  week,  and  that  the  Queen  of  Spain  has  a  new  dress.  In 
the  editorial  columns  we  find  inspiring  quotations  from  Faust, 
Hamlet,  and  Lucile.  In  the  files  we  scanned  we  found  thirteen 
essays  on  the  inevitable  Thomas  Carlyle.  It  is  a  great  temptation 
to  reprint  some  of  the  literary  productions  of  the  olden  times,  for 
some  of  them  are  very  good  stuff  indeed,  but  after  all  these  years 
it  would  be  cruel  to  treat  our  amiable  librarian  to  her  essay  on 
the  Founders  of  the  Modern  English  Race,  or  to  thrust  upon  the 
managing  editor  of  The  State  Journal  his  own  essay  on  Mahomet, 
and  it  would  be  little  short  of  inhuman  cruelty  to  expose  Mr. 
Saunders  by  republishing  the  awful  poetry  he  used  to  write  under 
the  graceful  nom  de  plume  of  "Ivy." 

From  time  to  time  there  were  rival  publications.  A 
class  paper,  The  Sophomorian,  containing  literary  and 
journalistic  matter,  was  conducted  in  1889-90  by  the  enter- 
prise of  one  student.  In  the  two  succeeding  years,  the  same 
student,  associated  with  a  few  classmates,  published  suc- 
cessfully The  Lasso,  "for  the  promotion  of  college  spirit." 
There  was  a  design  of  a  cowboy  on  the  front,  and  for  some 
reason  all  of  its  early  numbers  were  in  black  covers. 

The  Nebraskan,  founded  about  1894,  was  a  rival  of  The 
Hesperian.  This  paper  was  nicknamed  "Riley's  Rag"  after 


88  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

one  of  its  editors,  "Rag  Riley"  (Frank  T.  Riley  of  Kansas 
City).  Since  his  day  the  college  paper  has  always  been 
called  familiarly  "The  Rag."  The  most  ambitious  and  the 
most  ephemeral  of  student  publications  was  The  University 
Monitor,  an  attempt  at  serious  journalism  which  rose  and 
passed  in  1896.  On  January  13,  1901,  The  Daily  Nebraskan 
was  organized.  It  was  a  consolidation  of  the  two  weekly 
papers,  The  Hesperian  and  The  Nebraskan,  and  the  literary 
monthly  connected  with  the  latter,  The  Scarlet  and  Cream. 
The  first  issue  of  The  Daily  Nebraskan  came  out  in  Septem- 
ber, 1901.  The  editorship  of  the  paper  was  at  first  elective 
by  the  student  body,  but  it  is  now  an  official  publication 
having  financial  backing  from  the  university.  The  staff 
editors  are  selected  by  the  faculty  publication  board. 

As  to  humorous  publications,  the  earliest,  according  to 
tradition,  was  The  Button  Buster,  issued  in  the  early  '80's 
by  members  of  the  Palladian  society.  This  paper  went 
through  several  issues  at  irregular  intervals.  Though  copies 
have  failed  of  preservation,  a  few  gems  illustrating  its  type 
of  humor  have  been  handed  down. 

From  a  Soph's  Album 

"May  your  life  glide  down 

The  stream  of  time 
Like  a  bobbed-tailed  chicken 

On  a  sweet  potato  vine." 

Our  Favorite 

"She's  a  tall,  slim  girl  without  bang  or  curl 

But  garbed  in  becoming  apparel. 
She  can  give  you  askance  a  withering  glance, 

As  sour  as  a  vinegar  barrel." 

A  high-class  humorous  paper,  The  Arrow-Head,  was 
published  about  1899-1901  with  Herbert  Johnson,  now  a 
celebrated  cartoonist,  as  managing  editor.  This  publica- 
tion showed  unusual  originality  for  a  student  production. 
Awgwan,  the  present  student  comic  paper,  was  established 
in  1912-13,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Ralph  Northrup. 
Its  drawings,  and  cover  designs  furnish  an  avenue  of  ex- 


PUBLICATIONS  89 

pression  for  campus  artists  and  cartoonists.  The  paper 
started  as  a  bi-monthly  but  during  the  period  of  the  war 
was  reduced  to  five  or  six  issues  a  year. 

The  first  annual,  The  Sombrero,  appeared  in  1884. 
Copies  are  not  now  to  be  found.  The  second  volume  was  is- 
sued in  1892,  and  the  third  in  1894.  This  last  contained  a 
cut  of  the  Sombrero  board  of  1884.  Underneath  the  cut  is 
the  legend  "The  docile  donkey,  recently  found  anchored  in 
a  recitation  room  on  the  third  floor  is  an  honorary  member 
of  this  board.  He  refused  to  compromise  himself  by  appear- 
ing in  the  engraving."  It  is  said  that  the  donkey  referred 
to  was  a  quaint  little  animal  which  the  professor  of  French 
used  to  ride  to  school. 

Numbers  of  The  Sombrero  continued  to  be  issued  until 
1907,  when  the  name  was  changed  to  The  Cornhusker.  The 
Cornhusker  is  an  amalgamation  of  the  junior  annual  and 
the  senior  class-books  which  used  to  be  issued  by  the  seniors 
alongside  the  junior  annuals.  Classic  among  the  senior 
books  were  that  of  1905  with  Alice  Town  Deweese  as  editor 
and  moving  spirit,  and  that  of  1906  with  Leta  Stetter 
Hollingworth  as  a  leading  editor  and  contributor.  The  uni- 
versity annual  is  now  an  official  or  semi-official  publication 
of  the  souvenir  type,  issued  under  the  supervision  and 
censorship  of  the  publication  board. 

On  the  literary  or  non- journalistic  side,  it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  there  is  now  no  avenue  of  expression  for  the 
University  students.  News  gatherers  and  humorists  have 
opportunities  but  not  so  the  writers  proper.  The  Nebraska 
Literary  Magazine,  a  quarterly,  ran  in  1895-96,  under  the 
encouragement  of  the  department  of  rhetoric  and  of  the 
English  Club  of  the  University ;  and,  beginning  in  February, 
1898,  The  Kiote,  a  monthly  publication  of  the  English  Club, 
went  through  three  or  four  volumes.  The  interest  in  writ- 
ing that  led  to  the  publication  of  these  magazines  was,  for 
the  most  part,  due  to  the  stimulus  of  Instructor  Herbert 
Bates,  and  later  to  that  of  Professor  Clark  Fisher  Ansley, 
of  the  department  of  rhetoric.  Formerly  there  was  much 
of  a  literary  nature  in  the  Sombrero.  This  material  now 


90  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

seems  to  be  crowded  out  by  restrictions  of  space,  interest 
in  the  social  organizations,  or  for  other  reasons.  And,  the 
school  is  now  so  big  that  it  is  difficult  to  "stalk"  talent  that 
does  not  come  forward  of  itself.  Opportunity  or  personal 
popularity  are  likely  to  bring  staff  positions,  where  genius 
for  writing  may  remain  buried  save  for  some  lucky  chance. 
Some  of  the  former  contributors  to  University  publica- 
tions, all  members  of  the  English  Club,  who  have  since  be- 
come distinguished,  are  Keene  Abott  of  Omaha;  Harvey 
Newbranch,  editor  of  the  Omaha  World-Herald;  Willa 
Gather,  the  novelist;  Norris  Huse,  who  was  lately  called  to 
New  York  City  for  newspaper  work;  H.  B.  Alexander; 
D.  N.  Lehmer,  now  of  the  University  of  California;  A.  S. 
Johnson,  sociologist,  novelist,  and  one  of  the  editors  of  The 
New  Republic;  Edith  Abbott  of  Chicago,  sociologist  and 
author;  George  C.  Shedd,  novelist;  Sara  Birchall,  now  with 
Vogue,  author  of  a  book  of  verse ;  Ruth  Bryan  Owen ;  Mar- 
garet Lynn,  essayist  and  short  story  writer;  Leonard  H. 
Bobbins,  of  The  Newark  News;  Leta  Stetter  Hollingworth 
of  Columbia  University;  J.  A.  Sargent,  a  well  known 
engineer;  Emory  R.  Buckner,  attorney;  Fred  Ballard,  the 
playwright;  Louise  Pound;  and  Edwin  Ford  Piper,  author 
of  a  newly  published  book  of  verse  entitled  Barbed-Wire  and 
Other  Poems. 

For  faculty  and  graduate  publications,  the  University 
compares  to  great  advantage  with  similar  state  institutions. 
The  oldest  publication,  University  Studies,  includes  studies 
of  all  kinds.  It  gained  perhaps  its  greatest  recognition  by 
its  publication  of  some  of  Professor  C.  W.  Wallace's  Shakes- 
pearian researches.  The  University  Journal,  a  journalistic 
and  educational  bulletin,  is  edited  by  A.  A.  Reed,  and  it 
alternates  with  The  Alumni  Journal,  edited  by  the  alumni 
secretary,  Miss  Annis  Chaiken.  The  publications  of  The 
Nebraska  State  Historical  Society  and  of  the  Nebraska 
Academy  of  Sciences  are  issued  from  the  campus.  There 
are  many  departmental  series,  like  Studies  from  the  Zoo- 
logical Laboratory,  established  by  Professor  H.  B.  Ward; 
Reports  of  the  Botanical  Survey  of  Nebraska,  founded  by 
Dr.  C.  E.  Bessey;  Reports  of  the  Nebraska  Geological  Sur- 


PUBLICATIONS  91 

vey,  edited  by  Professor  E.  H.  B arbour,  and  the  recently 
established  Studies  in  Language,  Literature,  and  Criticism, 
edited  by  Louise  Pound,  H.  B.  Alexander,  and  F.  B.  San- 
ford.  Finally  deserving  of  mention  is  The  Mid-West  Quar- 
terly, established  in  1913-14  during  the  administration  of 
Chancellor  Avery,  with  Professor  P.  H.  Frye  as  editor. 
According  to  its  prospectus  it  was  "established  by  the 
University  of  Nebraska  in  the  belief  that  there  exists 
in  this  country  a  quantity  of  excellent  writing  for  which 
there  is  no  adequate  medium  of  publication.  While  exact 
scholarship,  the  discovery  and  verification  of  fact,  has  re- 
ceived any  amount  of  encouragement  and  stimulation,  the 
cultivation  of  general  ideas,  the  free  play  of  intelligence, 
what  Matthew  Arnold  would  broadly  call  criticism,  has  met 
of  late  years  with  neglect  if  not  with  actual  disfavor  .  . 
.  .  it  is  the  hope  of  enlarging  the  opportunities  of  those 
who  are  interested  in  this  manifestation  of  mental  activity, 
irrespective  of  territorial  limitations,  which  has  led  to  the 
establishment  of  The  Mid-West  Quarterly."  The  Quarterly 
has  contained  contributions  from  writers  and  scholars  of 
note,  and  has  received  much  commendation  from  savants  in 
many  parts  of  the  United  States. 

OLIVIA  POUND. 


92  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


ATHLETICS 

No  brief  survey  of  the  history  of  athletics  at  Nebraska 
can  possibly  seem  adequate.  Unrecorded  history  after  all 
is  much  more  interesting  than  the  statistics  of  victories  and 
defeats.  If  a  composite  picture  could  be  drawn  which  would 
mirror  the  individual  heroisms,  then  only  could  we  appre- 
ciate the  records  which  the  University  of  Nebraska  has 
made  on  the  courts,  diamond,  track,  field,  and  gridiron  since 
embarking  in  intercollegiate  contests  in  the  late  '80's  and 
early  '90's. 

The  students  of  the  University  confined  themselves  in 
the  early  days  to  intra-mural  athletics.  It  has  been  said 
that  if  Professor  G.  E.  Howard,  who  was  among  the  first 
students,  had  matriculated  at  a  later  time  he  would  have 
been  one  of  the  most  famous  of  our  all-round  athletes. 
Though  one  would  scarcely  picture  Professor  Caldwell  as 
a  plunging  fullback,  it  is  well  known  that  he  was  a  baseball 
player  of  a  great  deal  of  ability. 

FOOTBALL 

Football  has  been  the  major  sport  since  its  very  begin- 
ning. From  a  desire  to  beat  Doane  and  thus  win  the  state 
championship,  the  goal  of  our  first  football  teams,  we  have 
passed  to  the  ambition  revealed  in  the  schedule  for  1919, 
which  includes  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Notre  Dame,  Oklahoma, 
Kansas,  Ames,  Missouri,  and  Syracuse.  In  1890  with  the 
aid  of  the  football  fans  from  among  the  faculty,  the  first 
football  team  was  organized.  The  great  rival  for  1890  and 
1891  was  Doane;  but  in  1892  gridiron  warriors  tackled 
Kansas  and  were  defeated  by  the  score  of  12  to  10.  Their 
only  other  game  that  season  was  with  Iowa,  which  resulted 
in  a  tie.  The  next  year  a  professional  coach  was  employed 
in  the  person  of  an  old  Michigan  star  by  the  name  of  Craw- 
ford, who  piloted  Nebraska  through  the  season  without  a 
defeat.  The  1894  team  was  the  first  team  which  was  recog- 
nized as  the  champion  of  the  Missouri  Valley  colleges. 


ATHLETICS  93 

From  1894  to  1900  Nebraska  did  not  win  another  cham- 
pionship, although  she  was  always  represented  by  credit- 
able teams  which  lost  by  nip  and  tuck  battles^  Following 
Crawford,  Thomas,  also  of  Michigan,  Robinson  of  Brown, 
Yost  of  Lafayette,  and  Branch  of  Williams  were  employed 
as  professional  coaches,  until  the  advent  of  "Bummy"  Booth 
in  1900.  From  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  football  coach 
until  he  left  after  the  season  of  1905,  Nebraska  had  an  un- 
broken string  of  championships  of  the  Missouri  Valley.  In 
1902  our  opponents  were  held  scoreless  and  we  gained 
national  recognition  by  defeating,  for  the  first  time,  the 
strong  Minnesota  team.  In  1903  Nebraska  was  again  un- 
defeated. In  1904  and  1905,  though  we  were  defeated  by 
Western  Conference  schools,  the  Missouri  Valley  colleges 
succumbed  to  our  attack. 

Foster  of  Dartmouth  succeeded  Booth  in  1906,  and 
though  the  team  played  well,  it  lost  to  Kansas,  Minnesota, 
and  Chicago.  "King"  Cole  of  Michigan  as  the  football 
mentor  in  1907,  won  another  Missouri  Valley  championship. 
In  1908  and  1909,  we  lost  the  championship  to  Kansas. 
However,  in  "King's"  last  year,  1910,  we  came  to  our  own 
by  going  through  the  season  with  only  a  single  defeat  and 
that  at  the  hands  of  Minnesota. 

The  preceding  year  the  faculty  representatives  of  the 
Missouri  Valley  Conference  laid  down  the  rule  that  coaches 
must  henceforth  be  members  of  the  faculty  and  elected  for 
the  entire  year.  This  rule  went  into  effect  for  the  year  1911- 
12.  Ewald  0.  Stiehm  was  our  first  all-year  coach.  He  was 
the  product  of  Wisconsin  University,  with  several  years  of 
successful  minor  college  coaching  experience.  His  first  foot- 
ball team,  though  falling  a  victim  to  Minnesota,  made  a 
clean  sweep  of  the  Missouri  Valley  and  tied  the  University 
of  Michigan  in  the  last  game  of  the  season,  after  clearly 
outplaying  its  antagonist  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
game.  In  1912  and  1913  the  Cornhuskers  won  all  games 
except  that  with  Minnesota. 

After  a  series  of  defeats  at  the  hands  of  Minnesota  since 
1902,  Nebraska  triumphed  at  last  in  1914,  by  a  score  of 
7  to  0,  on  the  home  field  in  a  most  exciting  contest.  The 


94  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

season  was  a  victorious  one  throughout  and  Nebraska's  was 
classed  as  one  of  the  strong  teams  of  the  country.  The 
1902  and  the  1915  Cornhusker  football  teams  were  pointed 
out  as  the  two  greatest  teams  in  our  history.  Rutherford 
and  Chamberlain  as  a  scoring  machine,  with  other  stars 
that  would  have  shone  on  any  ordinary  team,  made  the 
1915  warriors  the  most  spectacular  iin  their  performances 
of  perhaps  all  our  elevens.  They  defeated  their  strongest 
opponents  by  large  scores,  with  the  exception  of  Notre  Dame 
on  Thanksgiving  Day,  where  the  margin  was  only  one 
point.  Rutherford's  blocking,  with  Chamberlain's  marvel- 
ous dodging,  kept  the  largest  number  of  people  that  ever 
witnessed  a  football  game  on  Nebraska  Field  continually  on 
their  feet. 

Dr.  E.  J.  Stewart  became  director  of  athletics  in  the  fall 
of  1916.  His  first  team  lost  the  championship  to  Kansas, 
though  it  made  a  very  creditable  record.  In  1917  another 
Missouri  Valley  championship  was  annexed,  making  a  total 
of  fifteen  years  of  championship  out  of  a  possible  twenty- 
seven.  W.  G.  Kline  acted  as  coach  of  the  1918  football  team 
in  the  absence  of  Director  Stewart.  It  was  a  team  made  up 
of  the  members  of  the  Students'  Army  Training  Corps,  with 
no  eligibility  rules  and  playing  only  hit  and  miss  games 
throughout  the  season.  Most  of  the  veterans  of  former 
years  had  gone  to  war  and  as  a  consequence  1918  was  not 
a  successful  season,  though  we  defeated  Kansas  by  a  good 
score  and  we  can  all  recall  the  time  when  that  was  the  only 
essential  to  success. 

A  roll  call  of  the  captains  of  the  years  reveals  the  names 
of  men  who  perhaps  during  their  college  days  were  the 
best  known  men  on  the  campus. 

1891  E.  E.  Mockett  1898  W.  C.  Melford 

1892  E.  E.  Mockett  1899  C.  E.  Williams 

1893  G.  H.  Dern  1900  F.  H.  Brew 

1894  E.  0.  Pace  1901  John  Westover 

1895  W.  W.  Wilson  1902  John  Westover 

1896  0.  B.  Thorpe  1903  J.  R.  Bender 

1897  G.  C.  Shedd  1904  M.  A.  Benedict 


ATHLETICS 


95 


1905 
1906 
1907 
1908 
1909 
1910 
1911 
1912 


C.  T.  Borg 
Glen  Mason 
John  Weller 
J.  B.  Harvey 
0.  A.  Beltzer 
John  Temple 
S.  V.  Shonka 
E.  E.  Frank 


1913  L.  R.  Purdy 

1914  Victor  Halligan 

1915  R.  B.  Rutherford 

1916  H.  H.  Corey 

1917  Edson  Shaw 

1918  *Ernest  Hubka 

1919  Paul  Dobson,  Captain 
Elect. 


BASEBALL 


Baseball  is  the  oldest  of  Nebraska's  sports.  From  the 
very  beginning  of  the  University,  baseball  contests  were 
held  between  the  various  classes.  An  intercollegiate  game 
with  Doane  in  1882  is  the  first  outside  contest  recorded. 
Nebraska  was  victor  by  a  decisive  score,  probably  on  ac- 
count of  the  fact  that  Frederick  Shepard,  now  a  judge  of 
the  district  court  of  Lancaster  County,  had  m'astered  the 
curve  ball  and  had  the  opposing  batsmen  absolutely  at  his 
mercy. 

A  great  many  creditable  teams  have  represented  Ne- 
braska. Especially  during  the  late  '90's  and  early  1900's 
did  we  have  excellent  baseball  teams,  some  of  whose  stars 
were  Eddie  Gordon,  J.  R.  Bender,  J.  M.  Bell,  George  Fenton, 
Robert  Carroll.  The  coming  of  Western  League  Base- 
ball in  1905  brought  a  decline  of  interest.  The  baseball 
teams  began  to  be  controlled  by  university  factions,  and 
though  they  made  extended  trips  to  the  East  and  South, 
baseball  became  a  liability  from  the  manager's  point  of 
view.  No  more  than  a  handful  of  spectators  would  be  on 
hand  to  witness  an  important  battle.  In  1911  the  sport  was 
abandoned. 

Since  that  time,  baseball  has  had  several  revivals  but 
only  a  few  games  were  played  each  season.  Coach  Stewart 
is  now  planning  a  real  resurrection  of  baseball,  to  take  place 
just  as  soon  as  conditions  within  the  University  return  to 


*Roscoe  Rhodes,  Captain  Elect  for  1918,  was  killed  in  action 
in  France. 


96  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

their  pre-war  basis.  Much  interesting  information  could  be 
collected  on  the  history  of  baseball  at  Nebraska,  if  time  and 
space  permitted. 

TRACK  ATHLETICS 

Though  contests  within  the  University  had  been  held 
in  track  events  almost  since  the  beginning,  the  late  '80's 
and  early  '90's  record  some  track  meets  with  Doane  College. 
The  first  meet  with  Kansas  was  in  1897  and  resulted  in  a 
victory  for  Nebraska.  After  Dr.  R.  G.  Clapp  came  to  Ne- 
braska in  1902,  Nebraska  began  to  develop  track  stars  of 
the  first  magnitude,  though,  as  the  accompanying  records 
show,  even  before  that  time  there  were  many  notable  per- 
formances. Nebraska  has  been  first  among  Missouri  Val- 
ley colleges  in  the  annual  conference  meet  but  two  times 
since  its  organization  in  1907,  but  has  won  sixty  percent 
of  her  dual  meets  with  Kansas.  She  has  lost  only  three 
meets  in  twelve  years  of  competition  with  Minnesota  and 
has  divided  honors  with  Ames.  Louis  R.  Anderson,  Ne- 
braska's greatest  miler,  was  a  member  of  the  last  Olympic 
team,  which  represented  the  United  States  at  the  Olympic 
Games  in  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

A  comparison  of  the  track  records  of  1896-97  with  those 
today  shows  the  development  of  the  sport  in  the  last  twenty- 
five  years. 

CROSS  COUNTRY 

Cross  country  running  was  introduced  by  Dr.  R.  G. 
Clapp,  and  for  six  years  after  the  competition  of  our  first 
team  in  1904,  Nebraska  was  the  Cornell  of  the  West,  win- 
ning four  out  of  six  championships  in  competition  against 
Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Chicago,  Ohio,  Ames,  Iowa,  and  other 
middle  western  schools.  Because  of  a  lack  of  attention, 
cross  country  running  has  not  flourished  since  1910  and 
it  was  finally  abandoned  in  1915.  Plans  are  now  under 
way  for  a  revival. 


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98  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

TENNIS 

The  tennis  association  of  the  University  of  Nebraska 
was  organized  in  1890,  with  Charles  D.  Chandler  as  first 
president.  Two  courts,  soon  increased  to  three,  were  laid 
out  directly  west  of  University  Hall.  Later  they  were 
moved  to  the  site  of  the  present  Law  building.  The  first 
holder  of  the  University  championship  was  Miss  Louise 
Pound,  who  was  on  the  team  which  played  Doane  College 
in  the  early  '90's.  She  was  Nebraska's  representative  for 
two  years  in  singles,  and  with  Emory  C.  Hardy  made  up 
our  team  in  doubles.  The  tennis  association  has  had  many 
excellent  players  on  its  membership  roll.  Earl  E.  Farns- 
worth,  champion  in  1902,  became  state  champion  in  singles, 
and  with  I.  M.  Raymond,  Jr.,  won  the  state  championship 
in  doubles.  He  was  collegiate  champion  of  Kansas,  Mis- 
souri, and  Nebraska  in  the  fall  of  1903.  H.  V.  Failor,  '02, 
became  a  tri-state  champion.  Other  men  holding  'varsity 
firsts  in  singles  or  doubles  were  Arthur  Scribner,  Fred 
Wright,  Ralph  Cassady,  '05,  and  C.  M.  Mathewson,  '06.  In 
1905,  competitions  with  Iowa  and  Minnesota  were  held. 

The  tennis  teams  were  never  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  athletic  department  until  1912.  The  association  ran 
as  an  independent  association  and  made  its  own  engage- 
ments for  dual  meets.  In  1909,  R.  E.  Weaverling  and  Harry 
Smith  were  our  representatives  against  Kansas.  In  1911 
the  first  Missouri  Valley  conference  meet  was  held,  and 
Nebraska  was  victorious.  John  T.  Tate  won  first  place  in 
singles,  and  with  M.  F.  Goodbody  as  partner,  won  the 
doubles.  Guy  Williams,  '14,  was  a  leading  player  till  his 
graduation,  and  so  was  E.  F.  Meyer.  Last  should  be  men- 
tioned Lieutenant  Harry  Ellis,  '16,  recently  wounded  in  the 
Argonne  in  France,  who  beside  being  college  champion  was 
three  times  a  state  champion  in  doubles,  and  Lieutenant 
Edward  Geeson,  who  won  the  title  of  state  champion  in 
1917. 

In  the  fall  of  1917  the  game  was  abandoned  at  the  Uni- 
versity because  of  war  conditions,  but  it  will  be  resumed 


ATHLETICS  99 

this  spring.  With  the  opening  of  several  additional  courts 
east  of  the  athletic  field,  the  training  of  a  larger  squad  "will 
be  possible. 

BASKETBALL 

Basketball  was  introduced  into  the  University  in  the 
winter  of  1895-96  by  Dr.  Clark,  who  was  at  that  time  di- 
rector of  the  gymnasium.  In  those  days  there  were  seven 
men  on  a  team.  The  very  earliest  games  were  played  with 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  other  local  organizations.  Basketball 
has  grown  greatly  in  popular  favor  until  it  is  now  one  of 
the  most  popular  of  the  sports.  Nebraska  succeeded  in  the 
early  years  in  winning  most  of  the  games  played  with 
other  Missouri  Valley  colleges.  In  the  early  1900's,  Ne- 
braska began  to  play  with  the  Western  Conference  colleges 
and  as  a  whole  was  generally  on  the  short  end  of  the  score. 
Dr.  Clapp  became  director  of  the  gymnasium  and  professor 
of  physical  education  in  1902.  Basketball  flourished  under 
his  guidance,  and,  though  still  losing  to  Western  Conference 
teams,  our  boys  made  excellent  records  in  the  Missouri 
Valley  competitions.  Our  small  court  in  Grant  Memorial 
Hall  always  proved  a  handicap,  when  our  basketball  teams 
journeyed  to  the  larger  courts  of  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  or 
Chicago.  After  "Jumbo"  Stiehm  took  charge  of  the  team, 
we  won  two  successive  Missouri  Valley  championships  and 
in  1915  gave  Minnesota  a  double  drubbing.  The  lack  of 
a  suitable  gymnasium  is  alone  responsible  for  the  fact  that 
Nebraska  has  not  made  a  record  in  basketball  as  good  as 
that  made  in  football. 

The  largest  High  School  basketball  tournament  in 
America  is  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  University  of 
Nebraska.  As  many  as  130  teams  have  competed  in  a 
single  tournament.  As  a  consequence,  good  material  is 
very  plentiful  and  as  soon  as  a  good  gymnasium  is  supplied, 
we  will  take  our  rightful  place  in  basketball  among  the  col- 
leges of  the  middle  west. 


100  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

OTHER  MINOR  SPORTS 

Gymnastics  have  been  maintained  since  the  early  1900's. 
Our  teams  have  been  among  the  winners  consistently,  com- 
peting against  all  the  largest  colleges  of  the  Western  Con- 
ference. Wrestling  was  introduced  in  1908  and  meets  with 
Ames  and  Iowa  have  been  held  in  addition  to  the  Western 
Conference  meet.  In  1916,  our  wrestlers  succeeded  in 
carrying  off  premier  honors  at  the  conference  meet  in 
Minnesota.  There  has  not  been  a  year  in  which  we  have  not 
won  at  least  one  of  the  weights,  even  though  our  teams  did 
not  always  carry  off  first  honors. 

PHYSICAL  EQUIPMENT 

Until  1908,  the  northwest  corner  of  the  old  campus  al- 
ways served  as  an  athletic  field.  It  was  either  as  hard  as 
a  pavement  or  was  a  sea  of  mud,  and  it  is  to  be  wondered 
how  early  football  warriors  ever  survived  a  season.  In 
1908  a  movement  was  started  by  the  athletic  board,  headed 
by  Graduate  Manager  Earl  Eager,  to  acquire  a  block  and 
one-half  just  north  of  the  old  campus,  bordering  on  Tenth 
and  T  streets.  This  was  acquired  but  was  not  ready  for 
use  until  1909-10,  and  in  the  meantime  the  Antelope  base- 
ball park  was  used  for  football  and  the  state  fair  grounds 
track  for  track  and  field  athletics.  The  present  athletic 
field  is  as  inadequate  now  as  the  old  one  was  in  1907. 

When  Grant  Memorial  Hall  was  built  in  1887-8,  it  was 
one  of  the  best  gymnasiums  in  the  Missouri  Valley.  Though 
it  has  outlived  its  early  reputation,  some  very  excellent 
basketball  and  gymnastic  teams  have  been  trained  within 
its  four  walls. 

THE  NAME  "CORNHUSKER" 

The  name  "Cornhusker"  was  first  applied  to  Nebraska 
athletic  teams  by  Charles  S.  Sherman,  then  the  sporting 
editor  of  The  Nebraska  State  Journal.  Before  that  time 
our  athletes  were  known  as  Bug-Eaters,  Tree-Planters,  or 


ATHLETICS  101 

Nebraskans.  Mr.  Sherman's  suggestion  met  with  a  great 
deal  of  favor  on  the  campus  and  Albert  Watkins,  Jr.,  then 
prominent  in  college  journalism,  took  up  the  idea  and  firm- 
ly established  the  name. 

JACK  BEST 

No  history  of  Nebraska  athletics  would  be  half  com- 
plete without  some  tribute  to  the  service  of  our  beloved 
trainer,  Jack  Best.  For  almost  forty  years,  he  has  been 
rubbing  the  sore  spots  out  of  stiff  muscles,  giving  solace 
to  discouraged  candidates  for  athletic  honors,  and  putting 
fight  and  the  spirit  of  fair  play  into  our  athletes.  His  pleas- 
ant smile,  whole-hearted  sympathy,  and  unswerving  loyalty 
have  been  the  inspiration  of  the  wearers  of  the  Scarlet  and 
the  Cream.  Jack  will  live  in  our  hearts  as  long  as  there  is 
life  within  us.  The  following  couplets  which  are  often  sung 
on  the  campus  nowadays  will  be  sung  by  our  great  grand- 
children. 

Old  Jack  Best  from  England  came 
Best  in  heart,  Best  in  name. 
Always  there  with  a  hearty  laugh 
"Don't  forget  to  turn  off  the  bath." 

Inter-collegiate  athletics  have  justified  themselves  at 
Nebraska.  The  critics  say  that  competitive  athletics  de- 
velop only  the  few,  while  a  proper  system  should  develop 
the  many.  Around  the  Cornhusker  athletes  has  grown  that 
academic  patriotism  known  as  "college  spirit"  without  which 
no  large  university  can  have  an  attractive  college  life.  Isn't 
it  true  that  a  Cornhusker  becomes  the  hero  of  every  Ne- 
braska boy  as  soon  as  he  begins  to  read  the  sporting  page, 
and  that  he  becomes  zealous  to  develop  his  physique  in  order 
to  emulate  the  deeds  of  his  hero? 

GUY  E.  REED. 


102  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  WAR 

When  the  call  to  the  colors  came  in  the  great  world  war, 
the  University  of  Nebraska  "weilt  over  the  top"  in  every 
form  of  service  she  might  possibly  render.  Faculty,  alumni, 
students,  buildings,  and  equipment,  all  were  at  the  disposal 
of  the  United  States  government. 

Immediately  upon  the  declaration  of  war  more  than  a 
thousand  young  men  withdrew  for  military,  naval,  or  in- 
dustrial service.  And  these  numbers  have  been  steadily 
growing  with  records  still  incomplete.  The  2,300  stars  upon 
the  University  service  flag  bear  silent  witness  to  her  men, 
young  and  old,  who  entered  camp  and  trench,  ready  if  need 
be  to  die  for  their  country.  Forty-four  of  these  stars  are 
already  known  to  have  turned  to  gold,  twenty-six  of  them 
among  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces.  They  repre- 
sent privates  and  officers;  a  Lieutenant  Colonel;  an  army 
chaplain ;  a  Red  Cross  nurse ;  a  physician ;  men  killed  in  the 
thick  of  action ;  and  men  who  gave  their  lives  in  the  train- 
ing camps. 

Faculty  as  well  as  students  joined  the  colors.  Fifty 
members  of  the  faculty  and  administrative  officers  entered 
military  service,  while  others  were  called  to  Washington  for 
important  services  in  their  specialized  lines.  Chancellor 
Avery  was  called  to  Washington  because  of  his  special 
knowledge  of  chemistry  and  was  later  commissioned  a 
major  in  the  chemical  warfare  service.  Dean  0.  V.  P.  Stout 
of  the  college  of  engineering  and  Dean  Irving  Cutter  of  the 
college  of  medicine  were  granted  leaves  of  absence  by  the 
University  when  commissioned  a  major  and  captain,  re- 
spectively. Major  L.  W.  Chase  of  the  ordnance  depart- 
ment, engaged  in  responsible  work  in  the  crating  of  gun 
carriages ;  Major  Stokes  of  the  medical  corps  in  the  organi- 
zation of  Base  Hospital  Unit  49 ;  Major  F.  M.  Fling  in  the 
historical  section;  Major  Sturdevant  of  the  Base  Hospital 
at  Camp  Cody;  Major  Amos  Thomas  of  the  eighty-eighth 
division  serving  overseas ;  Captains  P.  M.  Buck,  A.  R.  Davis, 
C.  J,  Frankforter,  and  C.  W.  Taylor,  are  but  a  few  of  the 
faculty  members  who  are  serving  as  officers. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  WAR  103 

The  department  of  physics  was  almost  depleted  of  its 
faculty  for  a  time,  the  head  of  the  department  and  a 
number  of  his  associates  being  called  to  Washington  for 
special  service.  Prof.  M.  M.  Fogg  as  state  director  for 
the  department  of  public  information  developed  a  corps  of 
four-minute  men,  many  of  them  former  University  men, 
who  attracted  national  attention  because  of  their  number 
and  effectiveness.  And  even  our  famous  football  players 
gave  up  their  coach,  Dr.  E.  J.  Stewart,  who  enlisted  as  a 
physical  director  under  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Other  members 
of  the  faculty  co-operated  with  the  food  and  fuel  adminis- 
trators. In  fact  there  was  no  member  of  the  faculty  or  of 
the  administrative  force  who  did  not  lend  his  services  in 
some  form  or  another. 

Not  only  the  faculty  but  the  entire  University  plant  was 
put  at  the  disposal  of  the  United  States  government.  A 
national  army  training  school  was  opened  at  Nebraska  in 
July,  1918,  which  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  handled  a 
larger  number  of  soldiers  than  any  other  state  institution. 
This  was  under  the  supervision  of  Prof.  0.  J.  Ferguson, 
acting  dean  of  the  college  of  engineering,  who  had  as  his 
assistants  a  number  of  the  faculty.  And  when,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  school  year,  the  government  decided  to  make 
use  of  the  educational  institutions  of  the  country,  the  Uni- 
versity of  Nebraska  opened  its  doors  to  a  students'  army 
training  corps  which  numbered  1,730  men.  All  this  was 
in  addition  to  the  special  war  courses,  including  a  school 
in  radio  telegraphy,  which  were  established  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  war. 

The  military  department  of  the  University  furnished 
continually  a  large  quota  of  men  both  from  its  alumni  and 
its  student  body  for  the  officers'  training  camps.  But  many 
men  preferred  to  enlist  as  privates  and  to  play  their  humble 
part  in  the  great  army  of  democratization.  The  fact  that 
General  Pershing,  in  command  of  the  American  Expedition- 
ary Forces,  was  a  former  commandant  at  the'  University 
and  also  an  alumnus  drew  many  of  his  former  boys  to  him. 
Six  hundred  of  the  2,300  stars  upon  the  service  flag  are 
known  to  represent  men  in  France  or  other  countries 


104  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

abroad;  while  a  large  number  of  overseas  service  men  as 
yet  have  not  been  recorded. 

Base  Hospital  No.  49,  now  serving  overseas,  was  organ- 
ized under  the  auspices  of  the  college  of  medicine,  and  is 
manned  largely  both  in  its  officers  and  its  privates  by  Uni- 
versity men.  Two  University  women  also  are  in  its  corps. 
There  are  many  Nebraska  men  in  the  medical  and  ambu- 
lance corps  of  both  army  and  navy.  Many  members  of  the 
faculty  of  the  college  of  medicine  are  serving  as  commis- 
sioned officers  in  the  medical  corps. 

The  women,  too,  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  have 
contributed  their  share.  Miss  Alice  Howell  and  Miss 
Blanche  Grant  of  the  faculty  have  gone  overseas  as  canteen 
workers.  An  alumna,  Miss  Helen  Sargent,  gave  up  her 
life  as  a  Red  Cross  nurse.  Alumnae  and  students  "have 
furnished  a  large  number  of  workers  in  the  food  conserva- 
tion work,  Red  Cross,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  canteen  service,  student 
nurses,  dietitians,  reconstruction  workers,  and  other  im- 
portant branches  of  service. 

Campus  life  itself  was  transformed  by  the  war.  The 
student  body  in  large  measure  gave  up  their  social  life  in 
order  to  contribute  their  money  to  war  funds  and  their 
time  to  war  work.  In  every  war  drive  the  University  went 
over  the  top.  The  department  of  athletics  alone  contributed 
$7,000  to  Red  Cross.  Both  men  and  women  worked  in  the 
Red  Cross  rooms  where  surgical  dressings  were  made  daily. 
Members  of  the  faculty  added  to  their  already  heavy 
schedules  of  class-room  work  when  members  of  their  depart- 
ment were  called  into  service  and  granted  leaves  of  absence. 
They  went  out  over  the  state  freely  to  give  lectures  upon  the 
meaning  and  significance  of  the  war.  They  served  on 
numerous  and  varied  war  committees. 

Much  more  might  be  said  of  the  University  and  its  part 
in  the  war.  Those  who  have  come  in  contact  with  its 
faculty,  alumni,  and  student  body,  know  of  their  share. 
After  the  armistice  was  signed  three  men  represented  the 
University  of  Nebraska  at  the  peace  conferences  at  Ver- 
sailles— General  John  J.  Pershing,  Major  F.  M.  Fling,  and 


THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY  105 

Professor  W.  L.  Westermann.  To  the  many  friends  of  the 
University  this  is  one  of  their  proudest  moments.  As  in 
war  so  in  peace  the  University  of  Nebraska  is  playing  no 
small  part. 

ANNIS  S.  CHAIKIN. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY 

The  fiftieth  birthday  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  is  a 
kind  of  family  holiday — not  quite  a  day  of  rest,  as  it  has 
proved,  but  one  of  a  good  deal  of  good  feeling.  The  external 
relations  of  the  University  are  peculiarly  happy  at  the  mo- 
ment, for  its  record  in  the  war  just  ended  has  been  such 
as  to  bring  it  the  touch  of  pride  necessary  to  a  pleasant 
sense  of  self-satisfaction.  And  its  internal  relations  are 
more  than  usually  harmonious.  We  may  be  forgiven,  there- 
fore, for  a  little  more  complacency  than  might  be  appro- 
priate at  another  time  and  outside  the  family,  and  a  little 
more  frankness  of  self-examination  than  would  be  palatable 
from  outsiders. 

The  moment  ought  to  be  thoughtful  as  well  as  festive, 
for  the  University  may  be  felt  to  have  come  of  age  at  its 
fiftieth  year.  It  is  no  longer  an  experiment.  It  has  gone 
through  its  time  of  gangling  growth,  has  had  its  periods 
of  stagnation  and  its  spurts  of  expansion,  and  has  emerged 
into  maturity  with  the  complete  organization  of  the  typical 
American  university.  For  the  typical  American  university 
is  the  state  university.  Whether  it  is  a  finer  product  than 
the  endowed  or  the  denominational  school  is  a  matter  of 
opinion,  but  it  has  the  distinction  of  having  arisen  out  of 
the  direct  impulse  of  the  people  themselves,  and  of  having 
expanded,  college  by  college  and  department  by  depart- 
ment, in  response  to  their  immediate  demand.  Its  support 
has  been  not  the  inertia  of  an  endowment,  but  the  appro- 
priation moment  by  moment  of  what  they  have  wanted  to 
afford  for  that  kind  of  thing,  and  its  attendance  has  been 


106  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

the  measure  of  how  much  that  kind  of  thing  has  been 
wanted.  Those  who  have  come  have  been  the  gauge,  not 
of  a  generalized  ideal  of  what  a  state  should  do  for  its  youth, 
but  of  the  individual  and  actual  desire  for  those  particular 
services.  The  vitality  of  the  state  university  is  thus  demon- 
strated by  its  continued  existence  and  continued  growth. 
By  such  a  test  the  University  of  Nebraska — we  may  par- 
donably boast — has  shown  a  vigor  that  leaves  as  its  only 
problem  the  one  of  how  to  contain  and  direct  it. 

The  University  has,  indeed,  repeatedly  outgrown  its  own 
house.  Its  colleges  are  now  spread  over  three  campuses. 
The  newest  of  these,  the  one  for  the  College  of  Medicine, 
at  Omaha,  is  on  a  hillside  not  quite  at  the  edge  of  town, 
overlooking  a  broad  valley  and  the  open  prairies  beyond. 
By  situation  it  is  open  to  indefinite  expansion.  Already  it 
has  a  large,  well  equipped  hospital,  a  laboratory  building 
of  modern  style  and  equipment,  and  another  laboratory 
building  under  construction.  The  campus  of  the  College  of 
Agriculture,  the  Farm,  is,  on  the  whole,  the  pride  of  the 
institution.  Its  half-section  of  land  at  the  outskirts  of  the 
city,  with  its  thirty-two  buildings,  its  well  kept  lawns,  and 
its  model  fields,  is  the  show  place  of  Lincoln.  Further  build- 
ing is  in  progress  there  also.  The  city  campus,  where 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  five  thousand  students  go  to 
their  classes,  is  not  so  fortunate  in  its  site  or  equipment. 
But  though  at  the  moment  the  uninitiated  visitor  will  gain 
an  impression  of  chaos  from  the  jumble  of  buildings  there 
and  the  diversity  of  architecture,  yet  there  is  a  plan  slowly 
emerging,  of  which  the  newer  buildings — Bessey  Hall, 
Chemistry  Hall,  the  Social  Science  Building,  and  the  Teach- 
ers' College  High  School — are  the  earnest,  and  which 
promises  to  bring  the  city  campus  into  more  than  fair  com- 
parison with  the  others. 

What  the  University  has  come  to  in  the  course  of  its 
minority — colleges,  schools,  and  extra-mural  activities- 
may  best  be  seen  in  a  table  adapted  from  the  regents'  re- 
port to  the  legislature  for  the  biennium  that  has  brought 
the  institution  to  its  majority.  The  table  is  a  little  for- 
bidding, but  it  presents  an  array  of  just  those  services  that 


THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY  107 

have  been  wanted,  and  presents,  too,  something  of  the 
comparative  demand  for  them  in  the  number  of  students 
enrolled  for  each  one.  It  is  not  quite  just,  however,  either 
to  the  institution  as  a  whole  or  to  the  individual  parts  of 
it,  to  let  the  table  stand  without  adding  a  grain  of  salt  to 
its  interpretation.  Thus,  a  dropping  off  of  881  students  in 
the  year  1917-18  was  an  abnormal  circumstance  due  to  the 
war,  and  rather  a  source  of  pride  than  otherwise.  The 
preceding  year,  however,  was  a  normal  one,  and  represents 
better  than  its  successor  the  normal  growth  in  registration. 
The  biennium  as  a  whole,  as  a  result  of  the  growth  of  that 
year,  shows  an  increase  of  more  than  500  above  the  enroll- 
ment for  the  preceding  one.  The  figures,  moreover,  do  not 
include  either  the  S.  A.  T.  C.  of  the  fall  of  1918,  or  the 
2,400  men  trained  for  the  army  in  technical  courses,  from 
June  to  December,  1918. 

The  table  is  worth  another  glance.  It  reveals  other 
things  besides  the  bare  proportions  of  the  University. 
Looked  at  reflectively  it  speaks  of  the  various  ambitions 
which  animate  the  youth  of  the  state  and  which  in  the  end 
are  directed  back  into  the  general  life — so  many  engineers, 
so  many  doctors,  so  many  trained  in  law,  so  many  in  agri- 
culture or  domestic  economy,  and  so  on.  For  the  most  part 
these  numbers  reflect,  not  the  relative  popularity  of  the 
school  or  college  as  such,  but,  more  largely,  the  general 
needs  of  the  community.  For  choice  of  profession  goes,  by 
and  large,  with  the  social  demand. 

Another  thing  to  be  observed  is  the  degree  to  which  the 
University  has  developed  in  its  technical  and  professional 
branches.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the  men  and  more  than 
half  the  women  students  of  the  year  1916-17  were  regis- 
tered in  the  professional  courses.  And  it  may  be  added 
that  many  of  those  not  so  registered  were  underclassmen, 
freshmen  and  sophomores,  still  undecided  as  to  which  pro- 
fession to  enter,  but  taking  meantime  such  courses  in  the 
general  curriculum  as  would  give  them  the  chance  to  try 
their  aptitudes. 


108 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY  109 

None  the  less  it  is  observable  that  the  only  striking  dis- 
proportion in  the  enrollment  is  in  the  case  of  the  wholly 
general  and  non-professional  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
The  figures  for  that  college,  indeed,  are  somewhat  decep- 
tive, for  the  Teachers'  College  and  some  of  the  schools  are 
organized  within  it  and  demand  certain  deductions  from 
its  totals.  Still,  after  all  deductions  are  made,  the  numbers 
enrolled  there  are  greater  than  those  of  any  other  division 
of  the  University,  and  show  a  persistent  vitality  in  this 
oldest  of  all  the  colleges. 

The  problem  of  the  arts  college  is  today  the  principal 
problem  of  higher  education  in  America,  and  especially  in 
the  state  universities  of  the  Middle  West.  The  keying  up 
of  the  economic  life  and  the  growing  disrepute  of  leisure 
have  tended  to  put  a  pressure  upon  the  student  to  make 
every  moment  of  his  training  count — in  almost  a  Prussian 
degree — toward  his  efficiency  in  some  demonstrably  useful 
activity.  Out  of  this  shift  of  emphasis  there  has  grown  a 
corresponding  vagueness  as  to  the  exact  values  for  which 
the  arts  college  is  to  stand.  But  however  much  technical 
training  may  become  the  chief  function  of  the  state  uni- 
versity, it  can  not  wholly  displace  the  pursuit  of  those  other 
studies  whose  aim  is  to  inform  the  mind  broadly  in  the 
thoughts  and  experience  of  the  past,  and  put  the  present 
into  its  just  perspective  by  widening  the  student's  outlook. 
How  vitally  this  purpose  clings  to  the  prevailing  idea  of 
education  is  to  be  seen  in  the  enrollment  in  those  courses 
that  have  no  other  reason  for  being.  And  the  problem  of 
the  arts  college  lies  in  the  proper  correlation  of  those 
studies  to  that  end. 

To  return  to  the  general  condition  of  the  University, 
perhaps  the  best  survey  of  the  range  of  subjects  of  study 
offered  by  its  colleges  in  its  fiftieth  year,  and  of  the  teach- 
ing done  in  them,  may  be  had  in  a  glance  at  the  list  of  its 
separate  departments  and  the  numbers  of  students  regis- 
tered in  them  in  a  recent  typical  semester. 


110 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Registration  for  the  first  semester 

1916-17 


Agricultural  chemistry  257 

Agricultural  extension  17 

Agronomy  130 

American  history 369 

Animal  husbandry 252 

Animal  pathology 51 

Astronomy  and 

meteorology 76 

Bacteriology  and 

pathology 32 

Botany 347 

Chemistry 812 

Dairy  husbandry 166 

Economics  and  com- 
merce   1023 

Education  372 

Education,  sciences  in 

secondary 37 

Education,  secondary ..  34 
Educational  theory  and 

practice  313 

Engineering,  agricul- 
tural    228 

Engineering,  civil 155 

Engineering,  electrical  132 
Engineering,  mechani- 
cal    276 

Applied  mechanics 283 

English  history 141 

English  literature 1038 


Entomology 96 

European  history 177 

Farm  management 84 

Fine  arts 981 

Geography 165 

Geology 120 

German 731 

Greek  history  and 

literature 37 

Home  economics 393 

Horticulture 115 

Mathematics  651 

Military  science 614 

Philosophy 444 

Physical  education... 1087 

Physics 415 

Physiology 320 

Plant  pathology  and 

physiology 63 

Political  science  and 

sociology  655 

Rhetoric 1762 

Roman  history  and 

literature 143 

Romance  languages 790 

School  administration..  33 

Slavonic 88 

Zoology,  anatomy,  his- 
tology    561 


If  this  glance  at  the  condition  of  the  University  today 
may  be  taken  to  include  a  survey  of  the  past  decade  under 
the  chancellorship  of  Dr.  Avery,  another  set  of  tables  may 
be  of  interest  as  showing  the  growth  of  the  University 
plant  during  that  period.  The  comparison  is  striking. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY  111 

Degrees  granted  before  1909 3674 

Degrees  granted  since  1909 ~  4124 

Size  of  City  Campus,  1909 11.9  acres 

Size  of  City  Campus,  1919 36     acres 

Value  of  University  Bldgs.,  1909....$    685.000)     <R1  1Rrr  nnft 
Value  of  Equipment,  1909....$   500,000) 

Value  of  University  Bldgs.,  1919... .$1,101,760 )     * 
Value  of  Equipment,  1919....$1,145,000 ) 


VALUE  OF  IMPORTANT  BUILDINGS  ERECTED 
SINCE  1909 — CITY  CAMPUS 

Bessey  Hall...  ...$170,000 

Chemistry  Hall 189,000 

Law  Building 92,000 

Boiler  House 32,000 

Social  Science  Building 275,000 

Teachers'  College 140,000 


$898,000 

FARM  CAMPUS 

New  Dairy  Building $175,000 

Agricultural  Engineering  Hall 165,000 

Plant  Industry  Building 84,235 

Horse  Barn 33,500 

Boiler  House  and  Equipment—. 41,000 

Hog  Cholera  Serum  Laboratory 7,500 

Machine  Shed 6,275 


$512,510 
OMAHA  CAMPUS 


Laboratory  Building $104,500 

Hospital 147,800 

New  Laboratory  Building 120,000 


112  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

COMPARISON  OF  THE  VALUES  OF  UNIVERSITY 
BUILDINGS,  1909  AND  1919 

CITY  CAMPUS 

1909  1919 

University  Hall $  50,000        $     44,000 

Administration  Building 34,000  31,000 

Temple         100,000  91,000 

Bessey  Hall...  170,000 

Chemistry  Hall 189,000 

Mechanical  Engineering  Building....  115,000  110,000 

Law  Building  .. 92,000 

Nebraska  Hall. 21,000  15,000 

Brace  Laboratory.... 72,000  66,000 

Pharmacy  Building 40,000  30,000 

Library  Building 95,000  85,000 

Grant  Memorial  Hall 20,000  17,500 

Soldiers'  Memorial  Hall 28,000  24,000 

Museum      48,000  45,000 

Mechanic  Arts  Hall.. 26,000  24,000 

Electrical  Laboratory 7,000  6,000 

Boiler  House  and  Equipment 29,000  61,000 

Social  Science  Building 275,000 

Teachers'  College 140,000 


$685,000  $1,516,000 

FARM  CAMPUS 

1909  1919 

Agricultural  Hall..                    $  60,000  $..55,550 

Women's  Building 65,000  59,000 

New  Dairy  Building 175,000 

Agricultural  Engineering 165,000 

Plant  Industry  Building 84,000 

Experiment  Station 25,000  20,000 

Judging  Pavilion 30,000  27,000 

Veterinary  Building 12,500  11,000 

Machinery  Hall  and  Shops 10,000  8,500 

Hog  Cholera  Serum  Laboratory 7,500 

Horse  Barn 33,500 

Boiler  House  and  Equipment 41,000 

Old  Boiler  House 11,000  10,720 

Machine  Shed...  6,275 


$213,500         $704,280 
SHERLOCK  B.  GASS. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY  113 


THE  FUTURE 

The  future  is  always  in  a  certain  sense  prophesied  by 
the  past ;  and  this  is  most  of  all  true  of  an  institution  which, 
having  lived  through  a  certain  period  of  historic  forma- 
tion, has,  as  it  were,  settled  itself  in  a  course  defined  by  its 
own  conscious  tradition.  The  University  of  Nebraska  has 
reached  such  a  stage  of  development.  During  its  fifty  years 
of  history  it  has  passed  from  the  state  of  eager  hope,  which 
attended  its  first  seasons,  to  a  state  of  conscious  possession, 
with  attainments  recognized  and  promise  assured.  It  has 
ceased  to  be  a  college  of  the  raw  prairies,  with  breadths  of 
empty  space,  expanses  of  future  time,  and  the  changing 
winds  of  its  aspirations  for  its  natural  atmosphere ;  it  has 
become  a  powerful  university,  with  a  world- wide  name,  and, 
in  a  true  sense,  an  Alma  Mater  whose  children  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  quarters  where  men  dwell,  there  carrying 
her  memory  in  their  affections  and  preserving  her  spirit 
in  their  lives.  Nebraska  is  not  institutionally  old,  even  in 
the  sense  in  which  the  great  universities  of  the  Atlantic 
states  are  old,  but  she  is  institutionally  mature,  and  she  has 
a  right  to  the  throne  of  maturity  and  to  the  honors  of  a 
mother  of  learning.  Which  so  being,  she  possesses  an 
image  and  a  character — the  throned  and  laurelled  Alma 
Mater — whose  proper  reading  is  her  future. 

The  fundamental  in  that  character,  the  great  note  to 
which  all  others  ring,  is  hers  by  gift  of  that  spirit  in  which 
she  first  came  into  being.  Those  ugly  but  dear  bricks  that 
form  the  old  main  building  which,  now  cherishingly  en- 
closed by  finer  halls,  first  stood  so  bleak  and  upstarting  on 
the  treeless  campus,  embodied  no  material  shape  merely  in 
those  early  days  of  the  seventies  when  hands  that  had  but 
just  broken  the  virgin  sod  turned  to  their  piling.  Rather, 
they  embodied  an  idea  and  a  faith,  each  so  luminous  that 
the  halo  of  them  still  lingers  about  and  redeems  the  physical 
ugliness.  For  the  University  was  founded  and  the  build- 
ing was  built  out  of  a  conception  of  learning  and  a  faith 


114  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

in  its  value  for  the  youthful  state  and  for  the  youth  of  the 
state  which  were  its  true  baptismal  spirit  and  which  gave 
and  give  to  the  University  its  prime  character.  With  a 
propriety  for  which  all  Nebraska's  children  must  be  thank- 
ful, the  institution  saw  the  light  as  a  College  of  Liberal 
Arts,  and  it  developed  as  such  a  college  for  a  period  of  suf- 
ficient length  to  stamp  indelibly  upon  her  that  reverence  for 
liberal  learning  which  is  the  inscrutable  essence  of  all  bet- 
ter culture.  Nebraska  possessed  such  a  reverence  from  the 
first:  it  was  avowed  in  the  fresh  curiosity  of  the  first 
generations  of  students,  outwardly  a  bit  uncouth  as  mem- 
ory pictures  them,  but  all  eager-eyed  to  the  world  of  knowl- 
edge ;  and  it  was  the  actuation  of  the  lives  of  the  early  pro- 
fessors, men  of  books  and  of  traditions,  but  willing  to 
devote  their  days  to  the  untaught  West  that  they  might 
there  show  the  way  to  readers  of  books  and  makers  of 
tradition.  With  such  a  core  of  light  Nebraska's  star  was 
kindled. 

Afterwards  came  the  technical  schools.  Civilization  is 
never  of  simple  design ;  and  the  growing  needs  of  a  grow- 
ing state — farmstead  after  farmstead  taking  form  on  the 
rolling  plains,  and  town  and  city  rising  yearly  to  make 
firm  the  social  structure — steadily  complexified  the  demands 
for  training  made  upon  the  state's  great  central  institution. 
There  must  be  physicians,  lawyers,  teachers,  engineers, 
scientists,  agriculturists,  economists,  artists, — all  these  and 
others  with  special  preparation  for  the  specialized  needs 
of  a  civilized  state;  and  year  by  year  the  University  has 
been  called  upon  to  build  housings  and  create  colleges  to 
meet  the  needs  of  an  expanding  social  life.  Today  the  old 
college  hall  is  but  one  unit  in  a  maze  of  structures,  and  the 
old  curriculum  but  a  tracing  in  the  rich  variety  announced 
by  the  annual  catalogue.  To  not  a  few,  who,  recall  the 
fresher  days,  the  change  brings  with  it  a  pang  of  regret: 
for  there  was  something  eternally  charming  in  that  simple 
faith  in  learning,  untempered  by  thought  of  vocation. 
Nevertheless,  seen  from  the  great  vantage  of  a  whole 
society,  we  all  know  that  any  institution  of  learning  which 


THE  UNIVERSITY  TODAY  115 

serves  the  varied  life  of  a  civilized  commonwealth  must  do 
so  by  building  for  all  its  arts  and  all  its  prof essions  :-jio 
trivium,  no  quadrivium,  can  plot  the  University  course  of 
the  future ;  rather  there  must  be  a  multi-vium,  a  branching 
into  the  manifold  paths  along  which  men's  activities  move. 
Yet  this,  be  it  not  forgotten,  cannot  be  without  some  gen- 
eral orientation:  there  must  be  the  initial  course  which 
gives  the  true  direction  followed  by  all  the  branches  and 
leads  to  the  one  end  of  all  which  we  call  human  progress. 
That  initial  course  and  true  orientation  Nebraska  fortun- 
ately received  from  her  first  college,  devoted  to  the  liberal 
learning  which  must  always  be  the  inspiration  and  the 
guide  of  her  institutional  life,  as  it  is  the  soul  of  her  final 
mission. 

Nebraska's  past,  then,  is  the  prophecy  of  her  future, 
and  in  it  her  future  is  to  be  read.  In  a  material  sense  it 
means  continued  years  of  building — which,  indeed,  is  one 
of  the  noblest  of  human  activities,  for  there  is  no  truer 
index  of  the  greatness  of  human  civilization  than  is  the 
greatness  of  architecture.  Today  most  of  the  sciences  are 
well  housed  on  the  several  campuses,  but  there  are  still  to 
come  the  housing  for  the  library  (whose  free  use  is  as  life- 
giving  respiration  to  the  institution),  the  erection  of  a 
museum  to  preserve  both  the  natural  history  treasures  in 
which  Nebraska  is  rich  and  the  treasures  of  art  which  with 
encouragement  and  devotion  she  will  yet  create,  the  as- 
sembly hall  which  shall  give  a  place  for  the  University's 
formal  dignities,  and  the  dormitories  which  should  give 
comfort  and  esprit  to  the  crowding  generations  of  students. 
All  these  must  come  in  time,  and  with  them,  we  may  hope, 
broad-branched  campus  trees  and  grassy  plots,  remindful 
of  scholastic  revery.  But  inwardly  and  truly  these  can  be 
only  an  outward  symbol  of  the  one  genuine  and  lasting 
Spirit  of  the  University,  through  which,  while  it  lives,  the 
University  will  continue  to  live  and  to  grow  in  greatness, 
and  which  itself  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  that  love  of 
learning  and  that  faith  in  the  natural  devotion  of  Nebraska 
boys  and  girls  to  unselfish  knowledge  in  which  the  first 


116  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

college  was  conceived  and  founded.  On  her  knee  Alma 
Mater  bears  an  open  book  and  in  her  hand  she  lifts  a  lighted 
lamp:  the  book  is  the  Wisdom  of  the  Past,  left  as  a  testa- 
ment by  those  who  have  been  men  before  us;  the  lamp  is 
the  Revelation  of  the  Future,  casting  its  quiet  illumination 
along  the  way  which  they  who  have  read  the  past  will  fol- 
low with  the  composure  of  a  faith  assured. 

HARTLEY  B.  ALEXANDER. 


FOUNDER'S  HYMN 

Upon  this  wild  and  lone  frontier 
Behold  the  edifice  we  rear — 
With  yet  no  homes  to  call  our  own : 
Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone. 

We  raise  no  cloisters  richly  dight, 
Casting  a  dim  religious  light; 
We  will  no  student  monks  or  nuns, 
We  build  for  daughters  as  for  sons. 

Here  shall  our  youth  know  what  is  known, 
Here  grow  to  heights  great  men  have  grown ; 
Here  some  shall  make  themselves  a  name, 
Here  some  be  known  to  old-world  fame. 

Here  shall  our  State  take  earliest  pride, 
Herein  first  match  all  states  beside ; 
Hence  men  shall  go  to  strengthen  hands, 
And  build  up  lore  in  older  lands. 

A  generation  hence  shall  be 
New  builders,  bold  of  faith  as  we ; 
For  millions  yet  shall  crowd  these  fields, 
And  claim  the  best  our  culture  yields. 

— L.  A.  SHERMAN. 
February  15,  1894. 


117 


118  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


PERSONAL  SKETCHES 


ALLEN  RICHARDSON  BENTON 
CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA  1871-1876 

The  first  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Nebraska  was 
Allen  Richardson  Benton.  Chancellor  Benton  remained  at 
Nebraska  five  years,  during  which  he  equipped  University 
Hall,  planned  the  campus,  and  increased  interest  in  the 
institution  by  speech-making  tours  over  the  state.  The 
period  of  Chancellor  Benton's  administration  was  the  period 
of  the  grasshopper  plague,  of  drouths,  and  of  consequent 
financial  depression,  but  he  remained  long  enough  to  see 
the  institution  well  launched.  During  its  early  years  the 
University  had  a  hard  struggle  for  its  existence.  A  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  state  were  housed 
in  dugouts  and  sod  houses,  and  yet  with  an  unusual  vision 
of  the  future,  they  loyally  sustained  the  University.  It  was 
during  an  especially  distressing  year  that  Chancellor  Ben- 
ton  asked  the  regents  to  take  about  one-third  from  his 
salary  and  give  it  to  an  assistant  professor. 

I  entered  the  University  in  September,  1873,  attracted 
to  the  institution  by  an  address  delivered  by  the  Chancellor 
at  a  teachers'  institute  in  Sarpy  county  in  the  previous  win- 
ter. Chancellor  Benton  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  young 
people  who  came  under  his  influence.  According  to  the  cus- 
tom of  those  days  the  Chancellor  also  performed  the  ordi- 
nary functions  of  a  professor  and  regularly  taught  a  con- 
siderable number  of  classes.  Bred  to  the  ministry,  yet  he 
was  for  that  time  very  broad  in  his  sympathies  and  liberal 
in  his  toleration.  He  had  a  peculiar  faculty  of  making  his 
students  feel  quite  at  home,  and  many  appreciated  an  inti- 
mate friendship  with  him.  The  number  of  students  was 
not  large,  and  the  classes,  especially  those  doing  university 
work,  as  distinguished  from  work  in  the  preparatory  school, 


CHANCELLOR  A.  R.  BENTON  119 

were  naturally  small.  This  fostered  an  intimacy  between 
teacher  and  pupil  that  has  become  quite  impossible  ^wrfeh 
the  growth  of  later  years. 

To  Chancellor  Benton  and  his  occasional  addresses  over 
the  state  was  due  in  no  small  degree  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  the  ultimate  success  of  their  University.  He  made 
them  feel  that  the  young  men  and  women  of  the  state  were 
fortunate  to  come  under  his  influence,  and  were  sure  to 
receive  inspiration  from  contact  with  him. 

Chancellor  Benton  was  born  in  Cayuga  County,  New 
York,  in  1822.  His  father  Allen  Benton,  was  a  descendant 
of  the  Ethan  Allen  family  in  Vermont.  He  attended  Ful- 
ton Academy,  Oswego,  New  York,  thence  went  to  Bethany 
College,  Virginia,  now  in  West  Virginia,  where  he  was 
graduated  with  first  honors  in  mathematics  and  languages 
in  1847.  Following  graduation,  he  conducted  an  academy 
in  Rush  county,  Indiana,  for  six  years.  At  the  end  of  this 
time,  declining  a  professorship  of  mathematics  at  his  alma 
mater,  Bethany,  he  accepted  a  professorship  of  ancient 
languages  at  Northwestern  Christian  University,  which 
opened  in  1855  at  Indianapolis.  He  served  there  as  presi- 
dent and  professor  for  many  years.  In  January,  1871,  he 
was  elected  as  the  first  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Ne- 
braska. In  1876,  he  returned  to  Northwestern  Christian 
University,  now  Butler  College,  as  professor  of  philosophy, 
and  was  soon  elected  its  president.  Dr.  Benton  resigned 
in  1900,  and  retired  from  educational  work,  having  taught 
in  academy  and  college  for  more  than  fifty  consecutive 
years.  He  left  three  children,  Grace  Benton  Dales,  wife  of 
J.  Stuart  Dales,  the  first  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Nebraska  and  present  secretary  of  the  board  of  regents, 
Mattie  Benton  Stewart,  wife  of  Judge  W.  E.  Stewart  of 
Lincoln,  and  Howard  Benton  of  Indianapolis.  His  grand- 
son, Benton  Dales,  was  professor  of  chemistry  at  the  Uni- 
versity from  1903  till  1917,  when  he  left  academic  work 
to  enter  commercial  life. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  renew  my  acquaintance  with 
Chancellor  Benton  after  he  returned  to  Lincoln  to  spend 


120  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

the  remainder  of  his  days,  and  he  never  tired  of  talking  of 
his  early  experiences  in  Nebraska,  and  of  his  abiding  faith 
in  the  progress  of  the  state  and  the  growth  of  the  Univer- 
sity. I  well  remember  that  in  the  closing  months  of  his 
life  he  said  to  me  that  the  two  things  in  his  career  as  chan- 
cellor that  gave  him  most  satisfaction  were  the  exchange 
of  the  original  College  Farm,  lying  near  where  the  present 
state  fair  grounds  are  situated,  for  the  tract  of  land  that 
has  since  become  the  pride  of  the  agricultural  interests  of 
Nebraska,  and  the  other  was  the  designing  of  the  seal  of 
the  University  of  Nebraska,  which  he  told  me  he  designed 
while  taking  a  long  railway  journey  to  the  East. 

I  have  known  somewhat  intimately  all  the  chancellors 
of  the  University,  and  to  each  and  all  of  them  the  state  is 
indebted  for  a  peculiar  service  rendered  to  the  University, 
and  certainly  not  the  least  of  these  debts  it  owes  to  Chan- 
cellor A.  R.  Benton. 

HENRY  H.  WILSON. 


EDMUND  BURKE  FAIRFIELD 
CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA  1876-1882 

Edmund  Burke  Fairfield  was  born  «dn  Virginia,  August 
7,  1821.  His  ancestors  came  from  France  to  America  in 
1639,  bearing  the  family  name  of  Beauchamp.  He  was 
graduated  from  Oberlin  College  in  1842,  and  from  Oberlin 
Theological  seminary  in  1845,  and  became  pastor  of  the 
Ruggles  Street  Baptist  Church  in  Boston  in  1847.  In  1849 
he  became  president  of  Hillsdale  College,  Michigan,  and 
remained  there  until  1870.  During  his  residence  in  Michi- 
gan he  was  a  state  senator  and  lieutenant  governor  of 
Michigan.  After  an  interval  of  five  years  during  which 
he  served  as  pastor  of  the  First  CongregationaJ  Church  at 
Mansfield,  Ohio,  he  returned  to  educational  work,  in  1875, 
as  president  of  a  Pennsylvania  state  normal  college,  and 


CHANCELLOR  E.  B.  F AIRFIELD  121 

was  chosen  in  1876  as  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Ne- 
braska, where  he  remained  until  1882. 

The  administration  of  Chancellor  Fairfield  at  Nebraska 
was  a  somewhat  tempestuous  period  in  the  history  of  the 
University.  It  was  characterized  by  a  factional  struggle 
in  the  faculty,  accounts  of  which  may  be  read  in  the  Omaha 
and  Lincoln  papers  of  the  day.  On  the  one  side  were  the 
head  of  the  institution  and  his  supporters,  largely  of  de- 
nominational school  training,  and  on  the  other  side  were 
the  young  and  vigorous  champions  of  non-sectarianism  in 
the  conduct  of  the  institution  and  of  new  and  liberal  views 
in  education.  Those  of  the  radical  faction  who  were  chiefly 
involved  were  three  men  of  unusual  brilliance,  namely 
George  E.  Woodberry,  of  the  department  of  English  litera- 
ture, later  the  noted  poet  and  critic;  Harrington  Emerson 
of  the  department  of  foreign  languages,  to  whom  is  chiefly 
due  the  nation-wide  "efficiency"  movement  and  slogan  of  the 
last  decade;  and  George  E.  Church  of  the  chair  of  Latin. 
The  upshot  of  the  factional  struggle  was  that  all  four  men, 
the  chancellor  and  the  three  brilliant  young  professors,  left 
the  service  of  the  institution. 

After  leaving  Nebraska,  Dr.  Fairfield  became  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  Church  at  Manistee,  Michigan,  until 
1889,  when  he  was  appointed  by  President  Harrison  as 
United  States  Consul  at  Lyons,  France.  He  returned  from 
France  in  1893,  and  made  his  home  at  Grand  Rapids,  Michi- 
gan, where  he  lectured  and  wrote  until  1896.  In  1896  he 
returned  to  preach  for  a  few  years  at  his  old  church  in 
Mansfield,  Ohio,  and  then  retired  to  Oberlin,  where  he  died, 
November  17, 1904,  after  an  active  and  useful  life  of  eighty- 
three  years. 

CLEMENT  CHASE. 


122  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

J.  IRVING  MANATT 

CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA  1884-1889 

The  American  state  university  is  a  nineteenth  century 
innovation  in  higher  education.  Some  foreshadowings  of 
it  appeared  much  earlier.  In  1619  Virginia  proposed  a  land 
grant  for  the  establishment  of  a  university.  The  state  of 
Massachusetts  gave  some  aid  to  Harvard  University.  The 
constitutions  of  Pennsylvania  and  of  North  Carolina  in 
1776  provided  for  a  secular  support  of  state  education.  It 
was  not  until  the  legislature  of  Michigan  in  1837  granted 
a  charter  for  a  university,  supported  and  controlled  by  the 
state  that  the  modern  state  university  came  into  being. 
Prior  to  its  advent  higher  education  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  church,  through  the  different  denominational  colleges 
and  universities.  They  prepared  men  for  the  ministry  and 
the  other  learned  professions.  The  new  university  was  to 
be  supported  and  controlled  by  the  state.  Its  aim  was  not 
to  supplant  the  private  college,  but  to  add  to  it  a  new  ele- 
ment, as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  two  classes  of  institu- 
tions were  provided  for :  one  modelled  after  the  former  col- 
lege, to  educate  for  the  learned  professions,  and  the  other 
to  provide  instruction  in  the  varied  industries. 

Other  northwestern  states  promptly  followed  Michigan's 
example.  Nebraska  under  the  leadership  of  Thomas  B. 
Cuming,  territorial  governor  from  1854  to  1858,  made 
numerous  attempts  to  provide  for  higher  education.  Gov- 
ernor Cuming,  himself  a  college  man,  in  his  first  message 
urged  that  careful  provision  be  made  for  education.  Dur- 
ing his  administration  twenty-five  charters  were  granted 
for  higher  education,  and  others  followed,  none  of  which 
have  survived.  The  state  legislature  on  February  15th, 
1869,  granted  a  charter  for  the  organization  of  our  present 
state  university  and  industrial  college. 

A  safe  model  for  the  innovation  did  not  exist.  Neither 
the  American  college  nor  the  German  university  fitted  well 
into  the  conditions.  It  is  in  no  wise  strange  that  men 
brought  into  the  faculty  and  chancellorship  from  the  older 


CHANCELLOR  J.  IRVING  MANATT 


•V. 


CHANCELLOR  J.  IRVING  MAN  ATT  123 

institutions  (and  the  regents  had  little  else  to  choose  from) 
should  have  different  ideals,  which  in  those  days  of  pioneer- 
ing and  experimentation  would  come  into  conflict.  Such  a 
situation  in  the  University  of  Nebraska  causecl  the  retire- 
ment of  its  first  three  chancellors.  The  contest  became  the 
most  pronounced  in  1882,  resulting  in  the  reorganization 
of  the  faculty  after  several  removals  and  resignations. 

Professor  J.  Irving  Manatt  was  called  to  the  chancellor- 
ship of  our  University  January  1,  1884,  at  a  time  when  the 
echoes  of  the  former  conflict  had  not  entirely  died  away. 
He  was  born  in  Millersburg,  Ohio,  February  17,  1845.  In 
the  last  year  of  the  civil  war  he  served  as  a  private  in  the 
46th  Iowa  regiment.  He  was  graduated  from  Grinnell 
College  in  1869,  and  received  the  A.  M.  degree  from  Brown 
University  in  1872,  and  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  from  Yale 
University  in  1873  and  from  Leipzig  in  1877.  He  was  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  in  Dennison  University  1874-1876  and  held 
the  same  professorship  in  Marietta  college  1877-1884.  His 
four  years  of  administration  here  were  marked  by  con- 
siderable unrest  in  the  University,  owing  partly  to  the 
survival  of  former  conditions,  partly  to  his  poor  health, 
and  partly  to  the  fact  that  the  qualifications  required  of  a 
chancellor  in  the  early  eighties  were  of  a  kind  for  which 
his  previous  experience  in  private  colleges  had  not  prepared 
him.  He  was  primarily  a  great  scholar  and  temperament- 
ally a  strong  and  inspiring  teacher — qualities  not  at  that 
time  demanded  of  a  chancellor.  What  was  needed  was  a 
masterful  man  who  could  mould  a  new  and  restless  com- 
munity, direct  a  legislature,  hold  all  manner  of  interests 
in  check,  and  particularly  one  who  could  harmonize  a 
faculty  of  divergent  ideals  and  contrary  theories  on  the 
new  education.  To  find  the  right  man  then  was  largely  a 
matter  of  chance.  The  regents  had  to  grope  their  way  for 
twenty  years.  It  was  not  until  the  state  institutions  had 
developed  their  aims  and  crystallized'  their  ideals  that  a 
man  was  found  that  fitted  into  the  conditions.  From  that 
time  on  the  work  of  selection  was  greatly  simplified. 

However  the  early  administrations  should  not  be  con- 
sidered failures.  A  certain  amount  of  administrative 


124  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

pioneering  was  necessary.  Other  state  universities  often 
had  experiences  similar  to  ours.  Under  the  Manatt  regime 
our  University  made  great  development  in  certain  direc- 
tions. His  scholarly  instincts  served  him  well  in  selecting 
men  for  the  faculty  positions.  In  this  respect  he  knew 
what  was  needed.  He  studied  the  field  thoroughly  and 
exercised  good  judgment  in  his  choices.  During  his  ad- 
ministration such  eminent  names  appear  for  the  first  time 
in  the  catalog  as  A.  H.  Edgren,  L.  E.  Hicks,  C.  E.  Bessey, 
C.  E.  Bennett,  J.  G.  White,  Rachel  Lloyd,  E.  W.  Hunt,  D.  B. 
Brace,  F.  S.  Billings,  J.  S.  Kingsley.  Again,  he  thoroughly 
appreciated  that  the  University  is  a  part  of  the  public 
school  system  of  the  state,  and  promptly  sought  to  bring 
the  University  and  high  schools  into  organic  relationship. 
With  State  Superintendent  Jones  he  visited  Michigan,  Iowa, 
and  other  states,  to  study  their  systems.  He  proposed  for 
the  high  schools  major  and  minor  courses  of  study,  the 
completion  of  which  would  admit  a  student  to  the  freshman 
class  and  the  second  year  of  the  Latin  school  respectively, 
without  examination.  A  joint  committee  of  the  faculty 
and  of  superintendents  and  principals  formulated  the 
courses.  They  were  promptly  adopted  by  many  high 
schools.  Arrangement  was  made  for  the  inspection  of  the 
schools  by  members  of  the  faculty.  These  provisions  led 
to  the  abolition  of  the  Latin  school  in  the  year  1895-6  and 
ultimately  to  our  fully  developed  system  of  accredited 
schools.  The  close  articulation  with  the  high  schools,  in- 
augurated in  the  years  1884-1888,  contributed  in  no  small 
degree  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the  University  in  numbers 
and  influence  under  succeeding  administrations. 

In  his  use  of  English  Chancellor  Manatt  had  few  equals. 
His  language  was  clear,  chaste,  strong,  stripped  of  con- 
scious adornment  and  thus  adorned  the  most — a  rare  gift. 
His  Phi  Beta  Kappa  address  delivered  here  in  1902  upon 
Our  Hellenic  Heritage,  while  readily  lending  itself  to  ab- 
strusities, was  easily  comprehensible  by  the  lay  mind.  His 
choice  of  words,  his  phrasing,  and  arrangement  of  sen- 
tences were  not  colored  by  the  language  of  his  life  study, 
but  they  all  stood  forth  in  the  purest  English.  He  was 


CHANCELLOR  J.  IRVING  MAN  ATT  125 

perhaps  the  most  felicitous  in  his  brief  offhand  addresses. 
Whether  his  hearers  agreed  with  his  thought  or  not,  all 
accredited  him  with  clothing  it  in  elegant  and  beautiful 
form. 

His  scholarly  attainments  brought  Dr.  Manatt  a  dis- 
tinguished career  after  leaving  the  University.  He  was 
United  States  consul  at  Athens  in  1889-1893,  was  called  to 
the  professorship  of  Greek  history  and  literature  in  Brown 
University  in  1892,  was  manager  of  the  committee  of  the 
American  school  at  Athens,  a  delegate  to  the  first  inter- 
national congress  of  archaeology  at  Athens  in  1905,  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Philological  Association,  the  American 
Social  Science  Association,  and  the  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Hellenic  studies.  As  an  author  he  published 
Xenophon's  Hellenica  in  1888,  the  Mycenean  Age  in  1897, 
and  Aegean  Days  in  1914.  The  last  is  the  best  known  of 
his  publications.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  veritable  labor  of 
love,  the  outgrowth  of  his  intimacy  with  Greece  during 
his  consulate  in  Athens  and  his  three  subsequent  visits. 
The  pages  are  full  of  literary  and  historical  lore  and  reveal 
the  author's  thorough  appreciation  and  understanding  of 
Greek  culture.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  reviews 
and  magazines.  His  career  closed  as  doubtless  he  would 
have  wished  it,  in  laying  aside  the  duties  of  his  professor- 
ship at  Brown  and  his  life  at  the  same  time,  February 
14,  1915. 

GROVE  E.  BARBER. 


126  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

JAMES  HULME  CANFIELD 

CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA  1891-1895 

It  is  related  that  Themistocles  once  excused  himself 
from  participating  in  the  gayety  of  a  feast,  but  declared 
that  though  unable  to  sing  a  song  or  tune  the  lyre,  he  could 
take  a  poor  and  mean  city  and  make  it  rich  and  famous. 
He  had  in  mind  the  phenomenal  prosperity  of  Athens  after 
the  Persian  wars,  and  in  part,  at  least,  his  boast  was  true; 
for  during  his  lifetime  and  largely  through  his  counsel  the 
insignificant  Attic  town  rose  from  her  ruins  to  be  the 
mistress  of  Greece. 

So  far  as  such  results  can  be  compassed  by  one  man, 
an  analogous  success  attended  Chancellor  Canfield'c  efforts 
when  he  set  about  to  transform  a  local  institution  of  small 
reputation  into  a  great  university.  And  the  parallel  be- 
tween him  and  the  Athenian  statesman  further  holds  in  the 
untoward  conditions  under  which  this  transformation  was 
achieved.  The  outlook  in  the  early  '90's,  when  the  new 
chancellor  assumed  charge,  was  far  from  roseate.  The  in- 
dustries of  the  country  at  large  were  prostrate  and  hard 
times  were  general.  In  addition,  Nebraska  was  suffering 
from  a  series  of  drouths ;  farmers  were  in  debt ;  prices  were 
low;  trade  languished.  What  chance  for  growth  and  ex- 
pansion in  those  years  of  depression!  Nevertheless  the 
University  did  grow  and  expand,  and  so  marked  were  the 
changes  wrought,  so  greafthe  accession  of  students,  so  en- 
larged the  scope  and  reputation  of  the  University  under 
the  leadership  of  Dr.  Canfield  that  the  four  years  of  his 
administration  truly  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch 
in  the  history  of  the  institution. 

That  he  was  a  man  of  inexhaustible  energy  and  a  tire- 
less worker  is  the  testimony  of  all  who  knew  him.  It  was 
chiefly  this  dynamic  quality  of  his  mind  that  enabled  him 
to  surmount  the  difficulties  of  the  times.  He  possessed  in 
exceptional  measure  many  of  the  best  characteristics  of  a 
successful  man  of  business, — prompt  initiative,  organizing 
ability,  habits  of  order  and  precision,  power  to  grasp  large 


CHANCELLOR  J.  H.  CANFIELD 


CHANCELLOR  J.  H.  CANFIELD  127 

issues,  capacity  for  details, — and  his  legal  training  and  his 
earlier  experience  as  a  railway  superintendent  helped  to 
make  him  a  keen  judge  of  human  nature.  To  these  domin- 
ant qualities  of  leadership  were  added  many  amiable  traits 
that  account  for  his  wide  and  permanent  popularity.  Af- 
fable and  sympathetic  with  all  classes  of  people,  he  easily 
won  the  hearts  of  both  the  students  and  the  general  public ; 
a  vein  of  ready  humor  went  along  well  with  his  cheerful 
optimism,  and  his  habitual  simplicity  of  speech  and  de- 
meanor was  unfeigned  and  convincing.  He  was,  in  the 
best  sense,  a  man  of  the  people. 

The  career  of  scholar  and  educator  had  not  originally 
been  contemplated  by  Dr.  Canfield,  but  a  genuine  interest 
in  young  people  and  a  deep  concern  for  their  welfare, — 
characteristic  traits  of  his  generous  nature, — plainly  pointed 
the  way  he  was  to  go.  His  educational  ideals  were  such 
as  would  naturally  develop  from  his  strongly  practical  and 
active  temperament.  For  pure  scholarship  and  scientific 
attainments  he  had  profound  esteem,  but  he  left  to  others 
prolonged  research  in  the  laboratory  and  the  writing  of 
learned  monographs.  In  fact,  though  master  of  compact 
and  trenchant  English,  he  wrote  comparatively  little.  It 
was  on  the  spoken  word  that  he  placed  his  chief  reliance 
and  in  countless  addresses  he  spread  abroad  the  gospel  of 
sound  education  as  a  basis  for  sane  living,  never  failing 
to  present  the  University  as  the  best  place  to  attain  that 
end.  This  broad-cast  seeding  brought  abundant  harvest. 
His  ardent  enthusiasm  awakened  in  many  a  Nebraska  boy 
and  girl  a  desire  for  higher  education,  and  his  practical 
counsel  often  helped  to  clear  the  way  to  the  realization  of 
this  desire.  The  statistics  of  registration  are  eloquent  of 
his  zeal  and  success.  Prior  to  1891  the  annual  enrollment 
in  the  University  had  never  exceeded  five  hundred  students, 
and  was  often  less;  four  years  later  it  exceeded  fifteen 
hundred. 

Chancellor  Canfield  by  happy  fortune  came  to  the  Uni- 
versity just  when  the  special  problems  of  the  time  required 
such  special  talents  as  were  his.  There  was  particular 
need  of  buoyant  optimism  and  glowing  prophecy  during 


128  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

those  gloomy  years,  and  of  these  qualities  he  had  large 
store.  Even  adverse  conditions  he  skilfully  utilized  and 
urged  the  general  economic  stagnation  as  a  fitting  occasion 
to  get  an  education.  "If  you  cannot  earn,  you  at  least  can 
learn,"  and  his  sensible  advice  and  particularly  his  attrac- 
tive personality,  not  too  far  removed  from  his  hearers' 
comprehension,  had  peculiar  weight  in  those  days  of  doubt 
and  indecision.  He  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  set  forth 
with  a  vigor  and  cogency  unprecedented  in  earlier  adminis- 
trations the  scope  and  aims  of  the  State  University.  In 
the  East  denominational  colleges  were  numerous  and  strong, 
deeply  rooted  in  the  social  life,  and  secure  in  a  well-defined 
clientele;  in  the  West  the  educational  field  was  relatively 
unoccupied  and  it  was  the  function  of  the  state  to  occupy 
it.  Here  education  should  send  out  new  roots  and  derive 
support  from  every  class.  Many-sided,  democratic,  free; 
unhampered  by  tradition  and  keenly  alive  to  practical  needs, 
the  University  was  to  be  not  merely  to  the  select  few  an 
exclusive  club,  but  to  all  alike  the  open  door  to  useful 
knowledge  and  practical  wisdom.  This  was  the  continual 
burden  of  Chancellor  Canfield's  message,  delivered  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season  everywhere  up  and  down  the  state. 
The  idea,  to  be  sure,  was  not  wholly  new,  but  still  after 
twenty  years  of  existence  the  University  had  not  greatly 
developed  nor  found  a  particularly  warm  place  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  It  was  of  primal  importance  that  numbers 
should  be  greatly  augmented  if  the  University  was  to  bulk 
large  in  the  consciousness  of  the  people  and  secure  for  it- 
self the  material  support  it  required.  Throughout  the  state 
were  many  young  persons  intelligent  and  capable,  but  un- 
schooled beyond  the  rudiments  of  learning.  To  set  this 
large  body  in  motion  towards  the  University  preliminary 
attainments  in  knowledge  must  not  be  too  rigidly  pre- 
scribed, nor  the  indicated  goal  put  too  remote.  Hence  the 
Chancellor's  favorite  definition  of  the  University  as  merely 
the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  grades 
of  the  common  schools.  It  was  hardly  adequate,  and  today 
we  realize  that  a  university  comprehends  something  more 
than  that ;  but  then,  and  under  Chancellor  Canfield's  skilful 


CHANCELLOR  J.  H.  CANFIELD  129 

presentation,  this  simple  description  was  admirably  cal- 
culated for  a  special  end.  It  was  a  view  at  once  novel  and 
plausible  and  rendered  efficient  service  in  persuading  many 
that  a  university  education  was  both  logical  and  feasible. 
Thus  there  was  ample  justification  for  the  emphasis  that 
Chancellor  Canfield  placed  on  the  quantitative  side  of  uni- 
versity development.  Higher  education,  it  is  true,  cannot 
thrive  by  numbers  only ;  in  the  last  analysis  the  University 
must  be  judged  by  intellectual  and  moral  standards  rather 
than  by  statistics  and  sums  total.  Nevertheless  increasing 
numbers  are  a  very  real  and  visible  evidence  of  healthy 
interest  and  vigorous  growth,  especially  in  the  earlier 
stages,  and  to  this  mediate  goal  of  larger  numbers  Chan- 
cellor Canfield  chiefly  directed  his  efforts,  doubtless  realiz- 
ing meanwhile  that  this,  when  reached,  would  be  but  the 
starting  point  for  higher  levels.  How  signally  he  succeeded 
in  his  purpose  is  known  to  most  citizens  of  Nebraska,  who, 
perchance,  have  but  dim  and  vague  knowledge  of  the  work 
of  his  predecessors.  The  important  services  of  these  are 
not  to  be  forgotten  nor  ignored,  but  the  achievements  of 
Chancellor  Canfield's  comparatively  brief  administration 
stand  out  in  clear  and  shining  relief,  and  it  is  only  sober 
truth  to  say  that  he,  more  than  any  other  man,  ushered 
in  the  golden  era  of  the  University's  prosperity  and  great- 
ness. 

Dr.  Canfield  on  leaving  Nebraska  assumed  the  presi- 
dency of  the  State  University  of  Ohio,  and  he  subsequently 
became  Librarian  of  Columbia  University.  He  remained 
to  the  end  of  his  life  the  practical  man  of  affairs,  the  keen 
observer  of  current  life  and  tendencies,  the  wise  and  help- 
ful counsellor  to  aspiring  youth.  His  little  book  of  advice 
to  university  students,  published  some  years  before  his  de- 
cease, embodies  his  view  of  education  and  contains  much 
that  could  profit  the  reader,  be  he  young  or  old. 

W.  F.  DANN. 


130  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

E.  BENJAMIN  ANDREWS 
CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA  1900-1908 

Among  the  men  who  have  built  and  served  the  Univer- 
sity of  Nebraska,  one  of  the  most  dynamic  personalities 
was  Elisha  Benjamin  Andrews.  A  man  of  wide  and  rich 
personal  experience,  he  had  also  a  breadth  and  depth  of 
scholarly  training,  a  literary  productivity,  a  range  of  in- 
terest, a  wealth  of  imagination  and  of  humor,  a  devotion 
to  duty  and  vision,  and  a  genius  in  moving  and  leading  men 
which  made  him  an  outstanding  figure  in  the  educational 
life  of  the  nation. 

Born  at  Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire,  on  January  10,  1844, 
he  came  into  a  family  whose  heads  for  two  generations 
had  been  Baptist  ministers  of  prominence.  His  brother, 
Charles  B.  Andrews,  became  governor  of  Connecticut  in 
1879-81.  E.  Benjamin  began  to  prepare  for  college  at  the 
Connecticut  Literary  Institute.  Interrupted,  however,  by 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
the  First  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery.  In  two  years  he 
had  risen  to  the  rank  of  second  lieutenant.  He  was  wounded 
during  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  in  1864,  losing  the  left  eye. 
Mustered  out,  he  resumed  his  studies,  graduating  at  Brown 
in  1870,  and  at  the  Newton  Theological  Institute  in  1874. 

After  a  year  in  the  pastorate  at  Beverly,  Mass.,  he  was 
called  to  the  presidency  of  Denison  University,  at  Gran- 
ville,  Ohio,  and  served  there  until  1879.  Transferring  back 
to  Newton,  he  was  for  three  years  professor  of  homiletics. 
In  1882  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  history  and  poli- 
tical economy  in  Brown  University.  He  spent  the  next 
year  in  preparatory  studies  in  Europe.  In  his  work  at 
Brown  his  reputation  was  quickly  established.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Nebraska  gave  him  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  in  1884. 
In  1888  he  went  to  Cornell  University,  returning,  however, 
in  1889  as  president  of  Brown. 

The  leadership  of  Dr.  Andrews  at  Brown  during  the 
ensuing  nine  years  gave  new  life  and  power  to  the  institu- 
tion. Attendance  of  undergraduate  men  rose  from  276  to 


CHANCELLOR  E.  B.  ANDREWS 


CHANCELLOR  E.  B.  ANDREWS  131 

641,  and  other  increases  were  proportionate.  But  no  quan- 
titative measurement  expresses  the  quickening  of  life  and 
enthusiasm  which  animated  the  entire  body,  under  the  in- 
spiration of  a  born  leader  of  young  men.  The  Brown  con- 
stituency was  at  all  times  intensely  loyal  to  E.  Benjamin 
Andrews, — "Bennie,"  as  they  affectionately  called  him. 

Dr.  Andrews  had  long  been  a  believer  in  bimetallism. 
In  1897  a  committee  of  the  trustees  requested  of  him,  "not . 
a  renunciation  of  these  views,  as  honestly  entertained  by 
him,  but  a  forbearance,  out  of  regard  to  the  interests  of 
the  University,  to  promulgate  them."  While  he  had  in 
fact  always  used  due  discretion,  he  took  the  ground  that 
he  could  not  meet  the  understood  wishes  of  the  Corpora- 
tion "without  surrendering  that  reasonable  liberty  of  utter- 
ance ...  in  the  absence  of  which  the  most  ample  en- 
dowment for  an  educational  institution  would  have  but  lit- 
tle worth."  He  immediately  resigned.  But  the  Corporation 
had  not  purposed  this  result.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  the 
trustees  adopted  an  explanatory  letter,  declaring  that  "It 
was  not  in  our  minds  to  prescribe  the  path  in  which  you 
should  tread,  or  to  administer  to  you  any  official  rebuke, 
or  to  restrain  your  freedom  of  opinion,  or  'reasonable 
liberty  of  utterance ;' "  and  expressing  the  hope  that  he 
would  withdraw  his  resignation.  President  Andrews  did 
so,  and  remained  at  Brown  until,  in  1898,  he  "resigned  to 
accept  the  superintendency  of  the  Chicago  public  schools. 
He  made  this  transfer,  however,  mainly  to  facilitate  Brown's 
quest  of  much-needed  endowments. 

Summoned  to  the  chancellorship  of  the  University  of 
Nebraska  on  April  11,  1900,  Dr.  Andrews  entered  upon 
the  functions  of  that  office  August  1.  His  great  hearted 
spirit  quickly  dissipated  any  forebodings  that  partisan  poli- 
tics might  conceivably  at  this  juncture  affect  university 
management.  It  was  recognized  at  once  that  the  new  lead- 
ership was  clear  in  purpose,  resolute  in  decision,  academic 
in  its  standards,  and  influential  in  its  popular  appeal — a  * 
strong  administration. 


132  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

At  Nebraska  also  Chancellor  Andrews'  headship  was  a 
period  of  marked  growth.  The  student  total  advanced  from 
2,256  to  3,611.  On  the  faculty,  with  some  sort  of  profes- 
sorial rank,  were  56  persons  in  1900,  and  390  eight  years 
later.  The  total  appropriations  for  his  last  biennium 
($1,330,067)  were  nearly  three  times  that  of  his  first 
($475,000).  Even  so,  the  supply  of  funds  did  not  keep 
pace  with  his  sense  of  the  University's  needs;  and  when 
the  regents  once  added  a  thousand  dollars  to  his  salary, 
he  begged  that,  "so  long  as  the  University  is  compelled  to 
the  rigid  economy  it  now  exercises,"  he  "continue  to  be 
paid  at  the  present  rate." 

Among  the  main  decisions  of  Chancellor  Andrews'  ad- 
ministration were,  the  establishment  of  the  Medical  Col- 
lege, under  Dean  Ward;  of  the  Teachers'  College,  under 
Dean  Fordyce;  the  construction  of  the  physics  building, 
museum,  administration  building,  the  Temple,  and  many 
others;  and  the  bringing  into  our  faculty  of  such  men  as 
Professors  E.  A.  Ross,  G.  E.  Howard,  M.  M.  Fogg,  Roscoe 
Pound,  H.  H.  Waite,  H.  K.  Wolfe,  A.  S.  Johnson,  Hutton 
Webster,  and  H.  B.  Alexander. 

The  splendid  personality  of  Dr.  Andrews  made  itself 
widely  felt  through  constant  lecturing  and  public  activity, 
as  well  as  through  steady  literary  production.  For  several 
years  he  maintained  also  a  course  in  practical  ethics  to 
which  the  students  came  in  throngs.  Here  he  displayed 
that  remarkable  skill  in  exposition  and  virility  in  discus- 
sion, that  wonderful  blending  of  high  ideals,  horse  sense, 
humor,  and  racy  anecdote,  which  had  earlier  established 
his  eminence  as  a  teacher. 

Compelled  by  ill  health  to  lay  down  the  chancellorship, 
December  31,  1908,  Dr.  Andrews,  accompanied  by  Mrs. 
Andrews,  spent  some  years  abroad.  They  even  went  around 
the  world  in  1909-10.  Later  they  retired  to  Interlachen, 
Florida,  where  his  death  occurred  October  30,  1917.  He 
is  buried  on  the  campus  of  Denison  University. 

A  selection  from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Andrews,  omitting 
many  sermons  and  articles  and  minor  works,  yields  the 


DEAN  A.  H.  EDGREN  133 

following  book-titles :  Institutes  of  Constitutional  History, 
English  and  American,  1884 ;  Institutes  of  General  History, 
1885,  1895 ;  Institutes  of  Economics,  1889,  1900 ;  History, 
Prophecy,  and  Gospel,  1891 ;  Droy sen's  Outlines  of  the  Prin- 
ciples of  History  (translated),  1893;  Wealth  and  Moral 
Law,  1894 ;  An  Honest  Dollar,  1894 ;  History  of  the  United 
States,  four  volumes,  1894,  1902 ;  History  of  the  Last  Quar- 
ter-Century in  the  United  States,  1896,  1903;  Problems  of 
Cosmology  (adapted),  1903;  The  Call  of  the  Land,  1913. 

E.  L.  HlNMAN. 


AUGUST  HJALMAR  EDGREN 

PROFESSOR  OF  MODERN  LANGUAGES  1885-91 ;  ROMANCE 
LANGUAGES  1893-1900. 

During  the  half  century  of  her  existence  the  University 
of  Nebraska  has  had  a  goodly  share  of  eminent  teachers 
and  scholars  in  her  service.  From  the  first,  good,  able  men 
were  attracted  by  the  opportunities  the  new  state  univer- 
sity offered.  And  still  more  was  this  the  case  when  the 
pioneer  days  were  passed,  say  in  the  '80's.  It  was  in  '85 
that  Professor  Edgren  came  to  us  from  the  University  of 
Lund,  Sweden,  to  fill  the  chair  of  modern  languages. 

Dr.  Edgren  was  a  man  of  large  caliber,  both  mentally 
and  physically.  A  markedly  strong  yet  fine-featured,  in- 
tellectual face,  expressive  of  the  scholar's  keen  interest  in 
the  field  of  inquiry  and  research;  keen,  kindly  eyes  set 
under  an  ample,  broad  brow;  broad-shouldered,  erect,  sol- 
dierly, dignified,  commanding  attention  and  respect, — thus 
Dr.  Edgren  rises  before  those  who  knew  him. 

Dr.  Edgren  had  lived  in  America  before  he  came  to 
Nebraska,  Upon  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  he,  a  lover 
of  freedom  and  of  freedom's  cause,  had  asked  for  and  ob- 
tained leave  of  absence  from  his  regiment  in  Sweden,  and 
had  offered  his  services  to  the  Union.  He  enlisted  in  the 


134  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

99th  regiment  of  the  New  York  Volunteers,  serving  in  vari- 
ous capacities  and  sharing  many  engagements  with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  His  previous  military  training — he 
had  graduated  from  the  Swedish  Royal  Military  Academy 
at  Stockholm  in  1860 — came  in  good  stead  and  gained  him 
appropriate  recognition. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  leave  of  absence  in  October, 
1863,  Lieutenant  Edgren  returned  to  his  native  land  to  fol- 
low,— as  he  then  supposed  and  planned, —  his  army  career 
there.  Nevertheless,  some  aspects  of  such  a  career  must 
have  irked  the  young  lieutenant,  for  a  few  years  later  he 
again  obtained  leave  of  absence;  this  time  to  pursue  his 
studies  in  France  and  Germany  (1867-68).  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  this  absence  from  the  army  proved  to  be  the  pre- 
liminary step  to  his  changing  his  entire  life-work. 

In  1870  Edgren  returned  to  America  to  enter  Cornell 
University,  which  had  then  been  lately  organized.  At  that 
date,  however,  he  had  not  yet  discovered  his  very  special 
talent  and  predilection  for  linguistic  and  literary  studies. 
At  Cornell  he  pursued  chiefly  the  study  of  physical  sciences. 
Not  until  he  came  under  the  instruction  and  guidance  of 
Professor  Whitney  of  Yale  (1872)  was  young  Edgren  to 
enter  upon  preparation  for  his  real  career.  At  that  time 
Professor  Whitney  was  easily  the  foremost  linguistic  scholar 
in  America.  His  courses  in  Comparative  Philology,  Indo- 
European,  Sanskrit,  Gothic,  etc.,  appealed  strongly  to  young 
Edgren  though,  confessedly,  his  previous  lack  of  train- 
ing along  linguistic  lines  made  great  demands  both  upon 
his  iron  will  and  his  rugged  physical  constitution.  A  well- 
earned  Ph.  D.  degree  in  '74  rewarded  long  years  of  inten- 
sive application. 

Soon  Edgren  proved  by  his  independent  researches  in 
his  chosen  field  how  well  he  had  laid  the  foundations.  Now 
began  a  singularly  active  and  long  career  of  linguistic  and 
literary  labors — translations  from  his  favorite  authors — 
Longfellow  and  Tennyson, — from  Kalisada,  and  other  In- 
dian classic  writers,  into  his  native  Swedish  or  into  Eng- 
lish. His  researches  into  Sanskrit  verbal-roots  involved 


DEAN  A.  H.  EDGREN 


DEAN  A.  H.  EDGREN  135 

an  immense  amount  of  patient  work,  but  it  resulted  in 
materially  overhauling,  correcting  and  simplifying  data 
which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  regarded  as  definitively 
established.  The  American  Oriental  Society  published 
Edgren's  work  in  1878.  This  publication  was  followed  up 
in  the  succeeding  years  by  a  Sanskrit  grammar  (1885) 
and  many  valuable  contributions  in  the  fields  of  Indo-Euro- 
pean philology,  as  well  as  in  the  Germanic  and  Romance 
languages. 

When  Edgren  came  to  Nebraska  in  '85,  the  modern 
languages  soon  became  a  favorite  study  with  our  student 
body.  His  classes  were  crowded.  Graduate  work  was 
gradually  being  encouraged  and  developed.  The  opportuni- 
ties to  lay  broad  and  deep  foundations  for  linguistic  and 
humanistic  studies  were  taken  full  advantage  of. 

Nevertheless,  when,  in  1891,  the  newly  opened  Univer- 
sity of  Gothenburg  recalled  Professor  Edgren  to  his  home- 
land he  accepted  the  call.  He  served  as  its  first  Rector 
Magnificus. 

But  some  way  the  lure  of  the  far  West,  the  opportunities 
in  new  lands,  were  too  strong  for  him.  The  spell  of  Ameri- 
ca's future,  her  comparative  freedom  from  social  conven- 
tionalities, and  her  young  but  vigorous  institutions,  could 
not  be  thrown  off.  So,  once  more,  he  turned  his  face  to- 
wards Nebraska.  This  time  he  became  head  of  the  Romance 
department  and,  a  little  later,  the  first  dean  of  the  Graduate 
School  (1893).  No  doubt  Dr.  Edgren  would  have  labored 
and  ended  his  days  in  our  midst,  if  Sweden  had  not  for  the 
third  time  given  him  an  urgent  invitation  to  give  her  his 
strength  and  ripe  scholarship. 

As  it  was,  the  Nobel  Institute, — a  Foundation  created 
by  Baron  Alfred  Nobel  in  1900  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
due  recognition  and  appropriate  awards  to  certain  lines  of 
investigation  and  scholarship  or  other  signal  humanitarian 
service, — elected  Edgren  as  one  of  its  directors.  There 
were,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  Foundation,  awards  to 
be  made  in  the  fields  of  physics,  chemistry,  physiology  or 
medicine,  international  peace  and  understanding,  and,  final- 


136  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

ly,  literature  properly  so  called.  It  was  to  serve  upon  the 
official  awarding  committee  for  the  latter  line  of  human 
endeavor  that  Dr.  Edgren  returned  to  Sweden  in  1900. 
But,  alas,  only  too  short  were  the  days  accorded  him. 
Scarcely  had  he  had  time  to  adjust  himself  to  this  new 
sphere  of  activity  when  the  end  came,  suddenly  and  un- 
expectedly. He  died  of  heart  disease  December  9,  1903,  at 
Djursholm,  near  Stockholm,  Sweden.  Only  a  few  moments 
before  the  end  he  asked  to  have  sent,  on  his  behalf,  a  fond 
last  farewell  to  his  many  friends  in  America. 

Thus  passed  one  of  our  most  gifted  friends  and  col- 
leagues. We,  who  gathered  in  the  University  chapel  on 
that  bleak  Sunday  afternoon,  February  14,  1904,  to  recall 
to  our  minds  our  departed  Dr.  Edgren  and  to  do  honors  to 
his  memory,  knew  whereof  we  were  speaking.  Fitting  were 
the  words  spoken,  recognizing  and  doing  homage  to  a  rare 
spirit  that  had  for  many  years  dwelt  in  our  midst.  The 
University  Chorus,  led  by  Mrs.  Carrie  B.  Raymond,  ren- 
dered Newman's  beautiful  "Lead,  Kindly  Light;"  Mrs.  R. 
A.  Holyoke  sang  Handel's  "I  Know  That  My  Redeemer 
Liveth."  Then  followed  some  inspiring  selections,  read  by 
Chancellor  Andrews,  and  tributes  by  Dr.  L.  A.  Sherman, 
Dr.  Charles  E.  Bessey,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Gere  and  myself  on 
"The  Scholar,"  "The  University  Teacher,"  "The  American 
Citizen"  and  "The  Man,"  respectively. 

I  cannot  do  better,  in  summing  up  this  short  sketch  of 
Dr.^Edgren's  personality  and  the  place  he  held  among  us, 
than  to  quote  a  few  sentiments  from  my  tribute  to  him 
given  on  that  occasion.  I  then  said: 

"It  was  my  good  fortune  to  learn  to  know  Professor 
Edgren  intimately,  to  learn  to  know  and  love  him  as  a 
friend,  to  receive  his  hospitality,  to  offer  him  mine,  to 
ramble  over  hillside  and  plain  with  him  when  he  could  be 
induced  to  tear  himself  away  from  his  desk,  and  'to  have  a 
talk/  as  he  used  to  express  it,  as  we  meandered  along.  I 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  I  alone  enjoyed  this  privilege,  but 
merely  that  I  always  regarded  this  informal  touching  of 
elbows  as  a  treat  and  a  privilege.  The  giving  was  usually 


DEAN  A.  H.  EDGREN  137 

his,  the  taking,  mine.  Thus  I  learned  to  value  his  simple 
tastes,  his  unostentatious  dignity,  the  catholicity  of-his 
sympathies,  and  the  gentle  forcefulness  of  his  character. 
I  witnessed  (and  often  chided)  his  indefatigable  industry 
and  application  to  any  task  he  might  have  in  hand.  I 
learned  to  prize  his  exceedingly  fine  poetic  sensibilities,  his 
aesthetic  tastes  and  temperament,  his  love  of  nature,  his 
inner  life.  Professor  Edgren  was  a  man  of  wide  sympathies 
and  clearness  of  judgment,  very  democratic  in  his  views  of 
life,  a  lover  of  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man.  Rather 
radical  in  his  views,  he  was  thoroughly  sincere  in  his  ex- 
amination of  forms  and  theories  and  tenets  of  whatever 
sort.  Openness  to  valid  arguments,  calm  reasoning,  sanity 
of  judgment,  insistence  upon  proof — these  constituted  his 
intellectual  fibre.  He  had  lived  too  long  in  the  broad  free 
West  to  look  with  easy  tolerance  upon  the  caste  and  class- 
distinctions  of  the  Old  World.  True,  when  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic,  much  of  our  newness  and  crudeness  and  un- 
ceremonious 'push'  grated  upon  him.  Sometimes  it  amused 
him,  sometimes  it  irritated  him.  Yet,  despite  it  all,  he  re- 
garded it  as  a  truism  that  'the  future  belongs  to  America/ 
If  he  loved  Sweden,  as  indeed  he  did,  it  was  because  of  its 
glorious  history,  because  of  its  achievements,  because  of  the 
honesty  and  sturdiness  of  the  sons  and  daughters  to  which 
it  gave  birth  and,  forsooth,  because  it  was  the  land  where 
his  cradle  had  rocked." 

LAURENCE  FOSSLER. 


138  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

CHARLES  EDWIN  BESSEY 

PROFESSOR  OF  BOTANY  AND  DEAN  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
COLLEGE  1884-1915. 

Professor  Bessey  was  notified  in  June,  1884,  that  he 
had  been  elected  professor  of  botany  in  the  University  of 
Nebraska.  He  was  then  at  Ames  College,  Iowa.  The  selec- 
tion had  been  made  by  the  regents  of  the  University  without 
his  knowledge,  but  he  was  sufficiently  interested  in  the 
incident  to  come  to  Lincoln  "to  look  the  place  over."  Dur- 
ing that  first  visit  to  the  University  he  found  that  nothing 
had  been  done  along  botanical  lines  and  he  was  quite 
naturally  reluctant  to  leave  the  accumulation  of  his  fifteen 
years'  labor  at  Ames  to  go  to  a  new  state  to  build  up  a  new 
department  from  the  very  beginning.  So  he  told  the  re- 
gents that  they  were  not  ready  for  him  and  declined  the 
offer  of  the  professorship.  A  second  offer,  extended  in 
August  of  the  same  year,  included  the  deanship  of  the  in- 
dustrial faculty  or  college  as  well  as  the  professorship  of 
botany.  After  another  trip  to  Lincoln  and  a  consultation 
with  the  board  of  regents  Professor  Bessey  accepted  the 
second  call  and  his  inaugural  address  was  delivered  at  the 
University  in  September,  1884.  He  began  his  active  class 
work  at  the  University  in  January,  1885.  His  first  thought 
was  always  with  the  work  of  his  classes  in  lecture  room 
and  laboratory  and  except  for  a  few  brief  interruptions  he 
continued  that  work  to  the  beginning  of  his  final  illness. 

Much  of  Dr.  Bessey's  energy  was  devoted  during  the 
earlier  years  of  his  work  in  Nebraska  to  the  collection  of 
the  grasses  and  other  economic  plants  of  the  state.  He 
made  many  talks  on  grasses,  weeds,  plant  diseases,  the 
methods  of  improving  plants  and  the  possibilities  of  a  bet- 
ter agriculture.  He  soon  became  acquainted  with  Governor 
Furnas  and  with  him  organized  the  first  series  of  Farmers' 
Institutes  which  were  thereafter  periodically  enlivened  by 
his  presence.  His  first  address  to  the  Farmers'  Alliance 
was  in  December,  1884,  and  to  the  State  Historical  Society 
in  January,  1885.  Then  followed  years  of  pleasant  and 


DEAN  C.  E.  BESSEY  139 

profitable  association  with  these  and  all  of  the  other  agri- 
cultural organizations  of  the  state.  His  interest  in  tree 
planting  and  his  relation  to  that  work  in  the  state  and  the 
nation  attracted  wide  attention  at  home  and  abroad.  The 
remarkable  work  that  the  United  States  Forest  Service  has 
done  and  is  now  doing  in  the  Nebraska  sandhills  is  but  one 
of  the  many  important  undertakings  which  were  directly 
inspired  by  Dr.  Bessey's  enthusiasm  and  far-sightedness. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life  Dr.  Bessey  was  par- 
ticularly delighted  to  observe  the  rapid  progress  that  his 
adopted  state  was  making  along  the  various  branches  of 
agricultural  endeavor.  This  was  interpreted  in  a  modest 
way  as  a  result,  in  part  at  least,  of  the  labors  he  bestowed 
in  that  direction  in  his  earlier  years  in  Nebraska.  No  more 
fitting  tribute  could  have  been  rendered,  nor  one  more 
gratifying  to  him,  than  was  done  in  January,  1913,  when 
hundreds  of  people  representing  all  of  the  agricultural  and 
many  other  activities  of  the  state  gathered  in  his  honor 
and  when  numerous  speakers  helped  to  recall  the  incidents 
of  his  long  period  of  service  which  was  then  in  its  twenty- 
ninth  year. 

The  state  of  Nebraska  loved  Professor  Bessey  and  he 
reciprocated  that  affection  to  the  fullest,  but  that  was  mere- 
ly one  of  the  many  directions  toward  which  an  overflowing 
measure  of  devotion  and  enthusiasm  carried  him.  His 
broad-mindedness  and  the  many-sidedness  of  his  personal- 
ity made  him  a  valuable  citizen  of  the  state  because  his 
intellectual  horizon  was  broad  enough  to  include  the  great 
and  the  small  affairs  of  the  state  and  the  nation  and  to 
stimulate  the  highest  scientific  achievement  as  well.  That 
his  sterling  qualities  were  esteemed  by  his  associates  was 
strikingly  illustrated  by  the  great  number  of  important 
offices  to  which  he  was  elected,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
The  highest  scientific  honor  of  this  kind  which  came  to  him 
was  probably  the  presidency  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  His  name  occurs  in  the 
list  of  presidents  of  that  famous  organization  along  with 
such  names  as  Agassiz,  Gray,  Dana,  Torrey,  Le  Conte, 
Mendenhall,  Newcombe,  Remsen,  and  Jordan. 


140  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

Professor  Bessey  always  took  a  great  interest  in  the  de- 
velopment and  progress  of  the  agricultural  colleges  and 
experiment  stations.  During  the  early  eighties  he  had  con- 
siderable to  do  in  connection  with  the  plans  of  the  federal 
Department  of  Agriculture  looking  toward  the  establish- 
ment of  state  agricultural  experiment  stations  supported  in 
a  measure  by  federal  aid.  He  finally  defined  the  duties  of 
such  experiment  stations  in  a  paragraph  which  was  later 
adopted  verbatim  as  a  part  of  the  law  known  as  the  Hatch 
Act.  It  is  also  of  local  interest  that  he  wrote  the  first  and 
second  annual  reports  of  the  Nebraska  Agricultural  Experi- 
ment Station  in  1888  and  1889. 

At  about  that  same  time  there  was  considerable  agita- 
tion in  the  state  to  sell  the  Experimental  Farm  or  "State 
Farm,"  but  Dr.  Bessey  threw  the  full  weight  of  his  influ- 
ence against  that  movement  and  after  a  vigorous  campaign 
the  agitation  ceased  and  the  movement  was  defeated. 

Professor  Bessey  was  the  author  of  many  technical  and 
semi-popular  books  and  papers.  Besides  his  books  and 
numerous  technical  papers  he  wrote  much  for  the  agricul- 
tural press  and  for  the  more  or  less  popular  audience.  For 
considerable  periods  of  time  he  was  associated  editorially 
with  a  number  of  botanical  and  other  scientific  journals. 
In  this  capacity  he  was  often  called  upon  to  review  the 
published  work  of  others.  He  held  very  decided  opinions 
as  to  what  constitutes  a  review  of  a  scientific  book  or  paper. 
He  felt  that  what  the  botanical  world  wanted  was  a  glimpse 
of  what  such  a  book  or  paper  contained  rather  than  a  criti- 
cism of  the  bad  points  which  he  might  have  indicated. 
He  very  seldom  wrote  an  adverse  note.  Enthusiastic  in  his 
praise  of  good  work  he  was  occasionally  somewhat  harsh 
in  the  condemnation  of  obviously  worthless  or  grossly  mis- 
leading material.  Even  this  infrequent  tendency  was  not 
altogether  unpleasant  for  the  victim,  however,  because 
everyone  knew  the  kindly  spirit  in  which  Professor  Bessey 
issued  even  his  criticisms.  He  always  sought  to  temper 
criticism  wherever  possible  and  he  seldom  spoke  or  wrote 
an  unkind  word.  He  tried  to  do  the  good  and  the  pleasant 


DEAN  C.  E.  BESSEY  141 

and  to  leave  undone  and  unsaid  the  unpleasant.  This  was 
a  feature  of  Bessey's  general  life  and  in  thus  living  he  per- 
formed a  service  the  extent  of  which  is  probably  not  appre- 
ciated by  those  unfamiliar  with  its  magnitude  and  signi- 
ficance. 

But  Bessey  was  best  known  to  Nebraskans  and  to  those 
in  the  University  as  "Professor"  Bessey,  the  vigorous  en- 
thusiastic and  devoted  exponent  of  the  cause  of  education 
and  the  fatherly  friend  of  the  student.  Except  for  a  few 
hundred  dried  specimens,  many  of  which  indeed  were  poor- 
ly prepared  and  even  incorrectly  named,  there  was  no 
botanical  equipment  in  the  University  when  he  entered 
upon  his  second  and  last  professorship  in  this  institution. 
Truly,  Professor  Bessey  was  all  that  there  was  of  the  de- 
partment of  botany  in  the  University  of  Nebraska  in  1884. 
But  it  was  not  long  until  there  were  students,  laboratories, 
library,  microscopes,  herbarium  and  other  equipment  in 
abundance.  As  a  result  of  his  labors  and  the  stimulus  of 
his  teaching  the  herbarium  has  grown  until  now  there  are 
more  than  35,000  specimens  in  the  herbarium  of  the  Botani- 
cal Survey  of  Nebraska  and  the  general  collection  contains 
more  than  300,000  additional  specimens  which  represent 
nearly  all  of  the  floras  of  the  world.  The  botanical  library 
has  grown  from  nothing  in  the  beginning  to  a  very  useful 
collection  containing  several  thousand  botanical  books, 
thousands  of  pamphlets,  and  nearly  all  of  the  leading  botani- 
cal periodicals  of  home  and  foreign  publication  in  complete 
files.  The  laboratories  have  grown  from  a  room  or  two  in 
University  Hall  or  in  the  Old  Chemical  Laboratory  and 
later  to  several  rooms  in  Nebraska  Hall.  His  department 
was  always  crowded  and  it  is  especially  sad  that  he  did 
not  live  to  enjoy  more  commodious  quarters  in  the  new 
building  which  bears  his  name. 

Bessey's  students  were  numbered  by  the  thousands.  One 
of  his  keenest  delights  was  to  page  over  the  lists  of  former 
students  of  his  department  and  to  picture  their  lives  and 
their  labors,  often  in  distant  lands,  all  contributing  of  their 
thought  and  effort  to  the  advancement  of  science  and  the 


142  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

betterment  of  mankind.  He  was  never  too  busy  to  drop 
his  work  instantly  for  a  hearty  greeting  which  often 
lengthened  to  a  real  visit  with  his  "boys"  when  they  chanced 
to  return  to  Lincoln  for  a  few  hours.  He  was  an  inspiring 
adviser  to  the  student.  Many  times  the  homesick  or  dis- 
couraged student  left  his  office  rejoicing,  with  fresh  courage 
and  real  inspiration  for  his  work.  This  was  true  not  only 
of  the  botanically  inclined  but  also  for  others  whose  pri- 
mary inclination  had  drawn  them  into  other  fields. 

As  a  teacher  Professor  Bessey  had  no  superiors.  His 
methods  in  the  class  room  and  laboratory  were  so  full  of 
boyish  enthusiasm,  he  was  so  companionable,  that  the  stu- 
dents were  simply  "infected"  with  the  matter  with  which 
he  dealt.  It  was  the  personality  of  the  man  which  made 
his  teaching  such  a  strong  factor  in  student  life  for  nearly 
a  half  century.  The  quaint  paternal  cordiality,  so  marked 
during  the  last  decade  of  his  life,  won  the  admiration  of 
many  students  who  really  cared  little  for  botany  but  who 
took  his  courses  merely  to  come  to  know  the  man,  or  be- 
cause their  father  or  mother  had  had  work  with  him  and 
they  wanted  their  sons  and  daughters  to  come  under  the 
same  benign  influence  regardless  of  what  they  might  learn 
of  the  wonders  and  beauties  of  plant  life. 

The  stimulating  methods  of  the  man  and  the  esprit  de 
corps  that  were  always  conspicuous  about  his  department 
were  reflected  in  a  particularly  interesting  and  important 
form  in  the  institution  of  the  Botanical  Seminar  by  a  few 
of  his  advanced  students  in  1886.  The  "Sem.  Bot."  soon 
became  and  has  always  been  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
and  useful  departmental  clubs  in  the  land.  The  organiza- 
tion was  largely  apart  from  his  supervision  but  yet  his  was 
the  guiding  spirit  from  which  the  members  drew  their  en- 
thusiasm whether  that  factor  led  them  out  on  a  dark  night 
to  attack  the  "Lits  and  Philistines"  or  sent  them  into  a 
remote  section  of  the  state  in  search  of  some  new  element 
of  the  flora. 

Doctor  Bessey  was  deeply  religious,  as  all  understand 
who  knew  him  best.  This  fact  is  beautifully  portrayed  in 


DEAN  C.  E.  BESSEY  143 

his  own  words  spoken  upon  the  occasion  of  the  death  o"f  a 
long-time  friend  who  was  dear  to  him.  "At  the  table  of 
life  we  sit  with  our  friends,  enjoying  their  presence,  their 
conversation,  their  counsel;  and  it  seems  to  us  that  this 
pleasant  company  must  continue  indefinitely.  And  then- 
one  goes  into  another  room,  and  does  not  return.  His 
vacant  chair  reminds  us  of  his  absence,  and  we  stare  in 
sorrow  at  the  place  where  so  recently  he  sat  among  us.  So 
has  gone  from  us  our  long-time  friend,  and  so  we  sit  in 
sorrow  that  we  shall  see  him  no  more  among  us.  When 
we  gather  again  in  the  places  where  we  were  wont  to  see 
him  we  shall  miss  his  genial  countenance  whose  very  pres- 
ence was  a  benediction.  To  that  other  room  to  which  he  is 
gone  we  ourselves  shall  go,  and  there  will  be  gathered  again 
the  company  of  congenial  spirits  that  learned  to  love  each 
other  here.  He  has  gone  before  and  left  us  here  a  while, 
but  we  shall  follow  him  very  soon  and  find  him  there  await- 
ing us."  No  better  words  or  phrases  than  these  could  be 
chosen  to  describe  the  deep,  burning  sadness  in  the  hearts 
of  Dr.  Bessey's  admirers  as  he  was  laid  away.  The  words 
reveal,  in  their  very  simplicity,  much  of  the  life  and  philo- 
sophy of  our  steadfast  friend,  of  our  inspiring  teacher,  of 
our  fatherly  associate. 

Dr.  Bessey's  last  illness  covered  a  period  of  four  weeks, 
beginning  during  the  last  week  of  January  and  culminating 
in  his  death  on  the  evening  of  February  25,  1915.  Yes,  he 
is  gone,  but  to  have  met  him  was  to  honor  him;  to  have 
been  taught  by  him  was  a  priceless  privilege ;  to  have  been 
intimately  associated  with  him  was  a  benediction;  to  have 
walked  with  him  into  the  fields  and  woods  and  to  have 
received  from  him  a  glorious  view  of  the  realm  of  which 
he  was  master  was  to  have  been  led  very  close  to  the  great 
throbbing  heart  whose  pulsations  will  never  cease  in  the 
breasts  of  those  who  sat  at  his  feet  until  they  too  shall  have 
passed  into  that  "other  room." 

RAYMOND  J.  POOL. 


144  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


ACADEME 

What  cities  men  have  dreamed! 

And  builded  of  hewn  stone  on  plain  and  hill 
Till  man's  historic  script  is  starred  and  seamed 

With  images  of  grandeur  that  do  fill 
Dim  generations  with  reverberant  awe 
Of  kings  and  peoples  and  their  cities  law! 

Great  Karnak  which  Tehutmes  raised 

Of  granite  of  Syene  and  red  porphyry 

And  Nubian  gold — and  o'er  it  blazed 

Tehutmes'  name,  the  Conqueror! 

Babel  of  the  East — rich  Babel  that  did  lie 

By  the  rivers  of  Paradise,  Lord  of  peace  and  war .  . . 

In  her  Orient  mart 

The  fairskinned  northman  met  the  swart 

And  jewelled  daughter  of  the  south — 

Ah,  honey  was  her  mouth, 

And  honeyed  song  was  all  her  breath ! 

And  honeyed  was  the  tomb 

Wherein  the  siren  city  laid  her  sons  at  death . .  . 

Karnak  and  Babel,  and  she  who  gave  their  doom 

To  earth's  wide  nations — Rome,  the  eternal ! 

Who  should  withstay  her  all-imperious  march .  . . 

Today,  the  broken  pillar  and  the  ruined  arch 

Proclaim  her  vanished  sway. 

But  we  shall  build  more  lastingly  than  they  I 
For  we  shall  seat  in  templed  majesty, 
Fronting  with  gate  serene  the  dawning  day, 
What  city  deep-eyed  Plato  saw 
In  visionry  supernal- 
Justice  her  corner  and  all  her  law 
That  wisdom  which  must  be 
The  guide  and  crown  of  mortal  destiny. 

H.  B.  A. 


S?-1^0^*  DA 

OVERDUE. 


6099-9-8 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


